The West is bringing the Ukraine conflict to a stage in which it could escalate uncontrollably with potentially global repercussions, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned. His comments came amid reports that many Western countries have given Ukraine permission to use their weaponry to strike deep into Russia.
In a post on Telegram on Friday, Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council, stated that Western countries, which are said to have signed off on long-range strikes, must understand that their military equipment and personnel either operating in Ukraine or carrying out attacks on Russia from other countries, “will be destroyed.”
He stressed that Russia considers all long-range systems used by Ukraine to be directly controlled by NATO personnel. “This is not some kind of ‘military assistance, this is taking part in a war against us.”
Medvedev said NATO wants Western involvement in the conflict to be seen as the independent initiative of certain countries, hoping to avoid the need to invoke the collective defense clause.
The former president dismissed this narrative as a “dangerous and harmful delusion.” According to him, actions such as sending troops to Ukraine or guiding long-range weapons are a “serious escalation of the conflict.”
While the US-led military bloc wants to believe that Russia would never use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine or NATO, “life could be much worse than their frivolous reasoning” allows, Medvedev warned.
He went on to say that the West risks miscalculating the chances of nuclear weapons being used, just as it failed to anticipate the start of Russia’s Ukraine operation.
This is not intimidation or nuclear bluff. The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. The power of the deployed NATO-made weapons is constantly escalating. That is why today no one can exclude the transition of the conflict to its final stage.
Russia has repeatedly said that a nuclear war must never be fought, ruling out the use of any nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Some Western countries have supported NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s call last week to the bloc’s members to consider lifting “some of the restrictions they have put on the use of weapons” sent to Ukraine.
Several Western media outlets also reported this week that the US, Kiev’s key backer, has allowed Ukraine to conduct “limited” long-range strikes deep into Russia. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s office confirmed the reports, saying Kiev will now have a better chance of “countering Russian attempts to mass across the border.”
Moscow has warned that the actions Kiev’s Western backers could lead to an escalation and serious consequences.