No mercy for terrorists – Medvedev
Terrorist attacks cannot be prevented with the help of negotiations, and only tough and decisive measures can guarantee success, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.
His comments came after Moscow accused Ukraine of staging a drone attack on the Crimean Bridge, killing two people, and injuring a child.
Writing on Telegram, Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that experience had shown that it is impossible to fight terrorists with “international sanctions, intimidation, and lecturing.”
They [terrorists] understand only the language of force. Only personal and quite inhumane methods.
Against this backdrop, the ex-president suggested targeting the perpetrators in their own homes, and “searching and liquidating their accomplices” without much regard for legal proceedings.
“The main thing is to destroy the top leadership of terrorist groups, no matter in what cracks these insects hide,” he said, adding that such policies are difficult but still possible to implement.
Medvedev's fiery post was an apparent response to a Ukrainian maritime drone attack on Monday targeting the strategic Crimean Bridge, which damaged one of the roadways and claimed the lives of a married couple from Belgorod and injured their daughter, according to Russian officials.
Responding to the incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova labeled Ukraine a “terrorist regime,” adding that all of Kiev’s decisions are to a large extent controlled by US and British special services and policymakers.
Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility for the attack but cheered the incident. Mikhail Podoliak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, said that “any illegal structures” used by Russia to supply its troops are “necessarily short-lived... regardless of the reasons for the destruction.”
In early February, Medvedev warned Ukraine that should it conduct a strike on Crimea, it would lead to the escalation of the conflict, while Kiev would face “inevitable retaliation using weapons of any kind.” He also said that such actions would preclude any possibility of talks with the Ukrainian government.
