On April 14, 2022, a file photo of Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. (Lennart Preiss/Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, February 26, 2023](The Epoch Times reporter Takasugi compiles a report) Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday (February 24) that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine is to do as much as possible. aggressively pushes the borders of hostile countries outward, even if it is that of Poland, a NATO member.
Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments on his social media platform Telegram account. For a full year before that, Russia had sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in what it called a “special military operation” it said was a mission to protect the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and ensure Russia’s own security.
Ukraine says it is fending off an unprovoked war of colonial aggression and has vowed to retake by force all of its territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Medvedev, an ally of President Putin, also predicted on Friday that Russia would emerge victorious and that the fighting would eventually end with some kind of loose agreement.
“We will win. We all want it to happen as soon as possible, but the day will come,” Medvedev said, predicting that difficult negotiations with Ukraine and the West would lead to “some kind of agreement.” “.
But he said the deal would not have what he called a “fundamental agreement on real borders” or anything like an all-encompassing European security pact. Therefore, Russia must now expand its borders as much as possible.
“That’s why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the ‘special military operation’. We want to push back as much as possible the border of the enemy that threatens our country, even if it is the border of Poland,” Medvedev said.
Poland shares a long eastern border with Ukraine and Russia’s ally Belarus. On its northeast corner, it shares a roughly 200-kilometer (125-mile) border with Russia’s Kaliningrad.
Any violation of Poland’s borders would bring Russia into direct conflict with NATO for the first time. In a speech in Warsaw this week, U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to defend “every inch” of NATO territory if it was attacked.
Medvedev, 57, has made a series of public, increasingly hawkish speeches since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war and has made a series of outspoken statements against the West.
According to the TASS news agency, Medvedev warned on Telegram on the 22nd that if the United States wants Russia to be defeated, Russia has the right to use any weapon in self-defense, including nuclear weapons.
Some political analysts see Medvedev as one of Putin’s possible future successors to himself.
Editor in charge: Sun Yun #
