Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday threatened nuclear strikes on Western leaders who want to send their troops to Ukraine, doubling down on his increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“The choir of irresponsible bastards from among Western elites calling for sending their troops to the nonexistent country is expanding,” Medvedev wrote in a message on social media.
He pointed to leaders and politicians in the US, UK, France, the Baltics, and Poland who floated the idea of supplying Kyiv with troops.
Medvedev said any deployment of NATO troops would essentially be a direct engagement in war, and that Russia would have to respond “not within Ukraine’s borders.”
“In that case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in Downing Street, 10. It will be a global catastrophe,” Medvedev added.
The former president, who held the office from 2008 to 2012, cited retaliation as a reason Russia recently started running drills for “the use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons.”
Russia on Monday announced drills with tactical nukes near Ukraine, which it said are being held in response to recent “threats” from the West.
Strategic nuclear weapons are those typically launched via intercontinental ballistic missiles. The type referred to by Medvedev typically provides smaller yields — though they can still be devastating — and can be delivered through a variety of means such as shorter-range missiles or even trucks.
Russia has been using threats of nuclear war to posture against countries supporting Ukraine, with repeated references to nonstrategic nukes potentially being used if certain red lines set by Moscow are crossed.
Western nations “must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” Russian leader Vladimir Putin said in March.
But such threats have also been categorized as bluffs by Western leaders, who say the Kremlin hopes to scare Ukraine’s allies off.
Meanwhile, NATO has continued to supply Ukraine with about $168 billion in weapons, arms, and other forms of aid. Last month, the US approved a package worth $61 billion to Kyiv, which Ukraine says is vital to maintaining its defensive positions against Russia’s advance.
As for Medvedev, the former president has been loudly pro-war since Russia invaded Ukraine. He regularly takes to social media to call for extreme measures in response to perceived Western grievances, such as a hypersonic missile strike on the Hague after it issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
In April, he said each NATO soldier sent to Ukraine should have a “maximum reward” bounty placed on their heads.
NATO has said that it’s not deploying its own troops in Ukraine and isn’t seriously planning to do so, though some allied leaders say they might be open to such a possibility.
French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, has repeatedly said he wouldn’t rule out sending troops to aid Kyiv. Medvedev often responds to Macron directly, insulting him on social media in English, Russian, and French.
Experts in Russian politics previously told Business Insider’s Sinead Baker that Medvedev’s hostile rhetoric might be an attempt to impress Putin.
“Medvedev is like one of the weaker guys in Tony Soprano’s circles, who just has to go and do horrible things to appease the boss,” Edward Lucas, senior advisor at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said.
Medvedev now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
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