Days after asserting that any means could be used to defend territories incorporated into Russia from Ukraine, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend itself.
The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, posted on Telegram that Russia can use its nuclear weapons if it or one of its allies come under attack with the same weapons or if its existence is in danger.
He also cautioned the West against assisting Ukraine in obtaining nuclear weapons, emphasising that doing so could have dire repercussions.
“We will have to act if the threat to Russia exceeds the established danger limit,” he wrote.
Even in a nuclear scenario, Medvedev questioned whether NATO would get involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying that for Washington, London, and Brussels, their own security came before “the fate of dying Ukraine.”
“Western nations only supply modern weapons because they are indifferent to us. I’m done. Demagogues from abroad and in Europe won’t perish in a nuclear holocaust. As a result, they’ll accept using any weapon in the ongoing conflict “said he.
The self-declared republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine, as well as the portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that are under Russian control, are holding referendums on joining Russia, which the international community deems illegal and unrecognisable.
In a move seen as an escalation of the conflict that started in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilisation last week, calling up to 300,000 reservists for deployment to Ukraine.