‘Take no NATO prisoners’ – Medvedev
Bounties should be offered for the killing of NATO soldiers if they are deployed to Ukraine to fight against Russian troops, former President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.
In a post on social media, Medvedev lashed out at Kiev’s Western backers, arguing that they are “taking the world for fools” if they believe that sending foreign forces to Ukraine would not lead to a dangerous escalation. If NATO soldiers do end up in Ukraine, they will not be limited to non-combat roles, he claimed.
“They will become part of the regular forces that are fighting against us. That is why they will have to be treated only as the enemy,” Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote. “We should take no prisoners! The highest rewards must be given out for every killed NATO soldier.”
Russian businessmen and activists have previously set bounties for the destruction of Western-made tanks in Ukraine.
The idea of having NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine has been floated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that “all options are possible.” He stressed, however, that Paris has no such plans at the moment.
During a rare phone conversation between defense chiefs on Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, that sending French troops to Ukraine would have disastrous consequences for Paris.
Moscow has warned that deploying NATO troops to Ukraine would put the bloc on the brink of a full-blown conflict with Russia. President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that it would be “one step shy of a full-scale World War III.”
