Medvedev Confirms Putin’s Threat Of Nuclear War – Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s clear nuclear missile strike threat on Wednesday morning, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, currently the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said that Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons to defend territories incorporated into the Russian Federation.
Medvedev’s Thursday comments come ahead of planned “sham” referendums in which the people of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and other occupied Ukrainian territories will be asked to decide whether or not they want their territory to be governed by the Kremlin. The results of these votes are widely expected to turn out in Putin’s favor, owing to the Kremlin’s general willingness to break the rules and to the fact that so many Ukrainians have fled the wartorn regions already.
Medvedev said on Thursday that there is “no going back” after the referendums take place, and that the two breakaway “Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk “will be accepted into Russia,” as well as other territories within Ukraine. It means that Russia, despite being on the back foot and suffering severe military defeats by Ukraine, intends to claim huge sections of Ukrainian territory as Russian.
“Russia has announced that not only mobilization capabilities but also any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, could be used for such protection,” the former Russian president continued.
The announcement is significant as these votes were expected to take place after Russia took full control of all regions that it intended to “liberate” from Ukraine. However, at present, Russia only controls roughly 60% of Donetsk and 66% of Zaporizhzhia.
Russian Media Brags Of Nuclear Capability
In what appears to be an effort to intimidate the West and give some comfort to the people of Russia, the Russian state-owned news agency Tass published reports on Thursday that describe the capabilities of Russia’s “Satan 2” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The reports describe how the missile, officially known as the Sarmat, is unmatched by any other missile in the world. It contained comments from Vladimir Degtyar, the CEO of JSC Makeyev Design Bureau which was responsible for the design of the missile system.
Degtyar told Tass that the Russian missile could “leave its silo under any conditions and fulfill its task with 100 percent certainty.”
Russia’s Mobile ICBM. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The missile is unique in terms of its unsurpassed speed, record-breaking range, the highest accuracy and complete invulnerability while penetrating anti-missile defense systems,” Degtyar added.
While Russian officials and media personalities have made threats of tactical nuclear weapons strikes since the early days of the war, these appear to be the most direct and specific threats yet.
Unable to take control of these territories by force, Russia appears to be hoping to take them by the threat of nuclear war.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
