Vladimir Putin‘s ally has issued a major warning to the West, after a NATO official played down Russia‘s nuclear threats.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council and former president of his country, lashed out at Poland‘s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
In a wide-ranging interview on defence in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Mr Sikorsi said to be sceptical about the multiple nuclear threats the Kremlin and its mouthpieces have been issuing over the past years.
He told the Guardian: “The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn’t kill anybody, we will hit all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we’ll destroy all of them.
“I think that’s a credible threat. Also, the Chinese and the Indians have read Russia the riot act. And it’s no child’s play because if that taboo were also to be breached, like the taboo of not changing borders by force, China knows that Japan and Korea would go nuclear, and presumably they don’t want that.”
Medvedev, who isn’t new to threatening the West via social media posts, took to X to hit out at Mr Sikorsi, whose country is a NATO member currently spending four percent of its GDP on defence.
Using a term often seen as derogatory to describe Poland nationals, the former Russian President claimed Americans “so far haven’t said anything exactly like that because they are more cautious” than Warsaw.
With apparent contempt, he continued: “Second, Americans hitting our targets means starting a world war, and a foreign minister, even of a country like Poland should understand that.”
Medvedev then referred to Polish President Andrzej Duda saying in April his country is “ready” to host nuclear weapons on its territory if the Western military alliance decides to reinforce its eastern flank, feared to be Moscow’s next target.
The former president claimed that, given Mr Duda’s offer, “Warsaw won’t be left out, and will surely get its share of radioactive ash”.
This outburst came as Western nations are discussing whether to allow Ukraine to strike military targets in Russia using weapons they have supplied it with.