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An all of Vladimir Putin has warned of an ‘apocalypse’ if the West continues to send arms to Ukraine to help the country in its fight against invading Russian forces.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said the effects of the potential global nuclear catastrophe would last decades ‘until the rubble ceases to emit radiation’ – in a reiteration of his previous threats of nuclear war with Kyiv’s allies.
Medvedev’s apocalyptic rhetoric has been seen as an attempt to deter the NATO military alliance and Kyiv’s Western allies from getting even more involved in the year-old war that has dealt Moscow numerous setbacks on the battlefield.
His latest comments follow Putin’s nuclear warning last week and his Sunday remarks in which he framed Moscow’s confrontation with the West as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people.
Kyiv and its NATO allies say the invasion in an imperialistic land grab, and that the only aggressor in the conflict is Russia, which repeatedly denied it was planning military action in the months and weeks before February 24, 2022.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev (pictured, file photo) said the effects of a global nuclear catastrophe would last decades ‘until the rubble ceases to emit radiation’ – in a reiteration of his previous threats of nuclear war with Kyiv’s allies
Medvedev’s apocalyptic rhetoric has been seen as an attempt to deter the U.S-led NATO military alliance and Kyiv’s Western allies from getting even more involved in the year-old war that has dealt Moscow numerous setbacks on the battlefield. Pictured: A Russian Sarmat (Satan) nuclear-capable missile is seen being tested
‘Of course, the pumping in of weapons can continue … and prevent any possibility of reviving negotiations,’ Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, said in remarks published in the daily Izvestia.
‘Our enemies are doing just that, not wanting to understand that their goals will certainly lead to a total fiasco. Loss for everyone. A collapse. Apocalypse. Where you forget for centuries about your former life, until the rubble ceases to emit radiation.’
Late in his rambling near two-hour state-of-the-nation address last week, Putin announced Russia was suspending its participation in the New Start programme with the US, which limits the two sides’ strategic nuclear arsenals.
The New Start treaty was signed in Prague in 2010, came into force the following year and was extended in 2021 for five more years just after US President Joe Biden took office.
It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can deploy and the deployment of land-and submarine-based missiles and bombers.
Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts.
Together, Russia and the US hold around 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the planet many times over.
Russia has frequently used the looming threat of its nuclear arsenal to try and scare the West into stopping its supply of weapons to Ukraine.
On state television, Putin’s propagandists regularly call for targets in the West – including the British capital of London – to be nuked.
And in January, Medvedev appeared to warn NATO leaders to halt supplies of major new arms to Kyiv, as Western allies met at the Ramstein Air Base Germany to discuss whether Germany should agree to send Leopard 2 main battle tanks.
If Russia loses, it would trigger nuclear war, Medvedev said at the time, who as Russian president from 2008 to 2012 once had his finger on Russia’s nuclear trigger.
He strongly implied the fate of his boss Putin, and that of Russia’s, depends on the Russian despot not being defeated in the bloody year-long war.
‘It doesn’t occur to any of the wretches to draw the following elementary conclusion: That the loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war could provoke a nuclear war.
‘Nuclear powers have not lost major conflicts on which their fate depends. And this should be obvious to anyone.
‘Even a Western politician with any trace of intelligence,’ said the former president.
Moscow went on to confirm that Medvedev’s incendiary remarks were in full accordance with Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
Medvedev stepped into Putin’s shoes as President in 2008 for a four-year term, while Putin became the Russian Prime Minister for that time. The move was seen as largely symbolic, with Putin maintaining ultimate power.
When he first became president in 2008, he promised to modernise and liberalise Russia, and often spoke of his love of tech gadgets and of blogging. He even visited California and was given a brand new iPhone 4 from Apple founder Steve Jobs.
But he has since rebooted his political persona, and now frequently embarks on tirades on the Telegram messaging app to he followers about Russia’s place in the world, and his hatred of the West.
Observers have said his new persona is a desperate attempt to retain relevance in Moscow’s political circles, which have become significantly darker since he left the presidency and Putin reclaimed the top job in the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, there have been rumours of Medvedev’s increasing alcohol consumption, with Putin telling him to resign as Prime Minister, instead handing him the token job as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council – which, as with many other political organisation in Moscow, Putin has ultimate control over.
Now, some analysts see Medvedev as positioning himself for a new run at the Kremlin presidency if Putin is forced out by ill health or through dissatisfaction.
Russia has previously said it would only resort to nuclear weapons if faced with an ‘existential threat’.
In March 2022, a month after the invasion began, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘We have a concept of domestic security, and it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used. So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.’
However, concerns have since risen about Russia’s potential use of such weapons as its forced continued to suffer embarrassing losses at the hands of Ukraine’s armies.
There have been warnings issued of the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield, and of the use of a dirty bomb. There have also been fears over the safety at Ukraine’s nuclear power stations that could trigger another Chernobyl disaster if not maintained – or suffer damage in the on-going fighting could.
Meanwhile, the US warned China of serious consequences if it provided arms to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Kyiv’s top general visited the frontline town of Bakhmut where Ukrainian defenders were holding out against constant attacks.
Air raid sirens blared in the capital Kyiv and other cities overnight and a Russian missile strike killed one person in the western town of Khmelnitskyi, Mayor Oleksandr Symshyshyn said on the Telegram messaging app.
Washington and its NATO allies are scrambling to dissuade China from providing military aid for Moscow’s war, making public comments on their belief that Beijing is considering providing lethal equipment possibly including drones.
Western fears of China helping to arm Russia come as Moscow’s forces struggle to make gains around key objectives in eastern Ukraine, and as Kyiv prepares a counter-offensive with advanced Western weapons including battle tanks.
Pictured: Polish Leopard 2 tanks are transferred to Ukraine in an undisclosed location, in Ukraine February 24, 2023. Russia has been issuing threats in an apparent attempt to dissuade Ukraine’s western allies from providing Kyiv with advanced military hardware
‘Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance – but if it goes down that road it will come at real costs to China,’ White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN.
While China had not moved forward in providing that aid, neither had it taken the option off the table, Sullivan said in a separate interview on ABC.
Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, most recently at a meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) in India on Saturday.
It published a ceasefire proposal on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the offer was met with scepticism among Ukraine’s Western allies.