Medvedev: If Ukraine tries to take back Crimea, Russia will have enough reasons to use nuclear weapons
Ukraine's attempts to recover the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, could lead to the use of nuclear weapons by the Russian military, Russia's Security Council Deputy Chairman, former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, warned on Friday, reports EFE news agency, quoted by Digi24.ro.
"If we are talking about serious offensives related to trying to recover Crimea by force, it is fully obvious that this will be considered a reason to use any means, including those provided for in the doctrine of nuclear deterrence," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian news agencies, including TASS.
He noted that Russia's nuclear deterrence doctrine provides for the possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons if the existence of the Russian state itself is threatened. But trying to snatch part of the Russian state is an attack on its existence, Medvedev explained, referring to Russia's annexed Crimea.
"Therefore, you can draw conclusions: there are obvious grounds for the use of any weapon. Absolutely any," the former Russian president threatened. "I hope that our 'friends' across the ocean are aware of this," he added. However, Medvedev believes Ukrainian officials' statements about the recovery of Crimea are more propaganda.
"All kinds of statements about the recovery of Crimea or something else ... You see, this is propaganda and this is how it should be treated. It always exists in wartime," the Russian official noted.
"This is primarily because the economic situation they, unlike us, are going through is horrible," Medvedev believes, adding that Kiev is currently surviving economically only thanks to foreign funding. "Ukraine is not just a ruined country, it is a country completely supported from outside, a bankrupt state," he said.
As for the possibility of Ukraine joining the EU soon, the former Russian president said this was "an absolute lie". He also believes that US Democratic President Joe Biden is in a hurry to step up military aid to Ukraine as his agenda would lose momentum both in the US and the West in general.
