Moscow is prepared to arm the enemies of the US in response to Washington and its allies sending weapons to Ukraine, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.
President Vladimir Putin floated the possibility of such an “asymmetric” response at Wednesday’s meeting with foreign news agencies, but pointed out the suggestion was only under consideration.
“This is a rather significant change of our foreign policy,” Medvedev said in a post on his English-language X (formerly Twitter) account.
Until now, he said, “the Yankees and their drooling dogs” felt entitled to send all sorts of weapons to Ukraine, to destroy Russia “by any means possible,” while threatening anyone who would provide Moscow with weapons or other materials for its defense.
“Now, may the United States and its allies experience firsthand the direct use of Russian weapons by third parties,” Medvedev added. “These persons, or regions have been intentionally left unnamed, but it can be all those who consider the Yankeeland & Co their enemy, regardless of their political outlook and international recognition.”
Their enemy is the US, and that means, to us they are friends.
The US and its allies have long insisted that providing Ukraine with weapons and equipment did not make them a party to the conflict with Russia. To maintain that perception, they had announced certain restrictions on the use of their weapons by Kiev. Over the past week, however, following a British-led pressure campaign, most NATO countries have greenlit Ukraine’s strikes into what they consider Russian territory.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Putin said Russia had “no illusions” about the long-range missiles provided by the West, explaining that Ukrainian troops were merely pulling the trigger on firing solutions provided by the US and others.
Outlining Russia’s response, Putin said the first step would be boosting air defenses to destroy the incoming missiles. The second might be supplying “similar weapons to those regions of the world, where they will be used against sensitive sites of these countries.” If Western provocations continue, and they cross the threshold into direct involvement in the war, “then we reserve the right to act in a similar way,” the Russian president added.
“This is a recipe for very serious problems,” he warned.
Medvedev was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, after which he served as prime minister until 2020. He is currently deputy chair of the Russian Security Council. He is known for maintaining a hard line on the Ukraine conflict in his social media posts, which the Kremlin has never outright disavowed.