The former Russian president strongly warns NATO against approaching Crimea, while pointing the finger at Sweden and Finland.
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Any attempt by a NATO country to invade the Crimean peninsula will not be graciously taken up by Russia, we believe the former president.
Dmitry Medvedev is now deputy head of the powerful Security Council, and he says that any attempt to “intervene” in Crimea will be a declaration of war.
– And if a NATO country does that, then there will be a conflict with the whole alliance. Third World war. Total disaster.
It is in an interview with the state-controlled weekly newspaper Argumemty in Fakty the statements come.
Crimea belongs to Russia. Forever, Medvedev states in the interview.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, which belonged to Ukraine without much resistance in 2014.
Putin spokesman Dmity Peskov has previously stated that it is completely irrelevant for Russia to discuss Crimea.
Medvedev has also commented on Finland and Sweden’s NATO applications, which Russia does not like.
The former president says the countries will be able to get Iskander’s missile system on the “doorstep” if they become members.
The Iskander system can be equipped with nuclear weapons.
Medvedev says in the interview that he is still not particularly worried about Finland and Sweden’s possible NATO membership, but he says that the Baltics’ nuclear-weapon-free zone will belong to history.
Medvedev’s statements come at the same time as the G7 leaders are holding a summit in Germany. At the meeting, it became clear that the G7 will continue to help Ukraine, and that sanctions against Russia will continue for as long as needed.
“Imagine if we had just let Putin get away with forcibly acquiring large parts of an independent country,” says British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
A new aid package of almost 30 billion dollars is ready for Ukraine.
Medvedev has been a close supporter of Vladimir Putin since 2003, and took over as president of Putin in 2008, when he could not stand for election under the then constitution.
He has also previously during the war had a say, and said a month into the war that Russia has “the power to put all our naughty enemies in place”.
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