Tensions between Moscow and the West have escalated since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Many Western nations, including the United States, condemned Putin’s war while also providing humanitarian and military support to Ukraine. This aid boosted Ukraine’s defense efforts while adding more pressure to already strained US-Russia relations. A key concern among national security experts amid the conflict is that Russia could potentially turn to nuclear weapons if it feels squeezed by Ukraine’s advances. Russia has sent mixed messages on nuclear war, with Putin warning in August that no one would win in a nuclear war while his allies taunted the West with nuclear threats. Medvedev served as president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and was succeeded by Putin. He currently serves as deputy secretary of Russia’s security council and on Saturday became the latest Russian official to issue a nuclear threat. Above, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting on February 21 in Moscow. Medvedev issued a nuclear warning against the US and other Western countries on Saturday, warning that the West wants to “eliminate Russia from the political field”. ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images In a Telegram post made after the funeral last week of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, Medvedev accused the West of wanting to “exploit the military conflict in Ukraine” to “eliminate Russia from the political field ». “These are the dirty dreams of the Anglo-Saxon perverts, who sleep with a secret thought of breaking up our state, thinking how to tear us to pieces, cut us into small pieces.” Medvedev wrote in the translated post. “Such attempts are very dangerous and should not be underestimated. These dreamers ignore a simple axiom: the violent dismantling of a nuclear power is always a chess game with death, in which it is known when check and mate come: Doomsday for mankind.” While US leaders have condemned the Russian invasion and Putin’s leadership of Russia, they have not called for any “breakup” of the Russian nation — or for any aggressive action against Russia, as direct military action against Moscow would escalate into a major degree of nuclear tensions. Last month, Medvedev said Ukraine and the West “seem ready to arrange a new Chernobyl” as concerns grew that Russian activity at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP) could lead to a nuclear reaction. Other Russian politicians have also left the door open for Russia to use nuclear weapons in the midst of the war, although Putin has typically used more measured rhetoric himself. In March, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia would use nuclear weapons if leaders felt their country faced an “existential threat.” But Russian state television, which typically pushes Putin’s propaganda, has made more forceful threats of nuclear war. In April, TV personality Vladimir Solovyov warned of a nuclear war that only “mutants” would survive if North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states continued to supply Ukraine with weapons. Newsweek has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
