Allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons for strikes into internationally-recognized Russian territory has made the US-led bloc a direct party to the conflict, said Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. Kiev has launched several strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles.
Moscow responded by striking a military industrial facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk (known as Dnipro in Ukraine) with a new intermediate-range ballistic missile equipped with a conventional warhead. On Saturday, Paris officially confirmed that it had given Kiev the green light to use French-made SCALP-EG cruise missiles in long-range strikes against Russian territory.
“The NATO member states have essentially got fully engaged in this conflict,” Medvedev said, commenting on the developments. The former president said these nations should understand that they are currently at war on the Ukrainian side. “They are at war with the Russian Federation.”
Not only do Western nations supply Kiev with weapons and financial aid, but they also provide targeting for Western-made missiles, Medvedev stated. Moscow has insisted that these systems cannot be successfully operated without the involvement of specialists from the nations that produced them.
Under these circumstances, no developments can be ruled out, Medvedev warned, pointing to Russia’s recently updated nuclear doctrine that allows a nuclear response to a conventional attack by a non-nuclear state supported by a nuclear power, including a missile strike against Russian territory.
“Everyone who is currently stirring up the war hysteria, primarily within NATO, the US, and other states, should think about it,” the former president warned. Asked to elaborate on the potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia, he described it as a “realistic” possibility. He added, however, that Moscow would very much like to avoid that option.
“There are no madmen in the Russian leadership,” he stated, explaining that the nation’s nuclear doctrine was updated in accordance with modern deterrence needs.
According to Medvedev, the Ukraine conflict could be swiftly and easily ended with no need for any additional losses. If NATO merely “stops fanning the flames of war in Ukraine, this conflict can be ended with no expenses for humanity. No new expenses, at least,” he said.
2 comments:
It's simple Russia pulls out of Crimea and the rest of eastern Ukraine - war over.
That is unlikely to happen anymore than the United States would concede Hawaii to the native Hawaiians or the territories within the continental states give back to the native Americans or Australia give back all the lands to the aboriginal people or Israel will ever agree to a 2 state solution. Borders have constantly changed historically. It would have been better had all of the above been peaceful and each of the populations had a say so in any changes that would could affect their ability to live peacefully in their historical home lands.
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