The supply of more advanced American weapons to Ukraine will not end the war, but only prolong it and provoke new retaliatory strikes from Russia, up to the Russian nuclear doctrine, said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“All Ukraine, which remains under the rule of Kyiv, will burn,” journalist Nadana Friedrichson quotes him as saying in a written interview.
Friedrichson asked Medvedev, who as deputy chairman of the Security Council has become one of Russia’s most militant figures since its invasion of Ukraine, whether the use of long-range weapons could force Russia to negotiate with Kyiv.
“The result will be just the opposite,” Medvedev replied in comments that Friedrichson posted on her Telegram channel.
“Only moral freaks, which are enough both in the White House and in the Capitol, can argue like that.”
The Pentagon said on Friday that the new missile, which would double Ukraine’s range, was included in a $2.175 billion U.S. military aid package.
As the first anniversary of the invasion approaches on February 24, Russian troops have been falling behind for the last eight months. They do not fully control any of the four Ukrainian provinces of Moscow, unilaterally declared part of Russia.
President Vladimir Putin views the Russian campaign in Ukraine as an existential defense against an aggressive West. He, like Medvedev, has threatened several times with a nuclear retaliation, saying that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people.
Asked what would happen if the weapons promised by Washington to Ukraine strike Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, or deep into Russia, Medvedev said Putin had considered the issue.
“We do not set ourselves any restrictions and, depending on the nature of the threats, we are ready to use all types of weapons. According to our doctrinal documents, including the Fundamentals of Nuclear Deterrence,” he said. “I assure you that the answer will be swift, tough and convincing.”
Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after “aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state is threatened.”
