Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO on Thursday of a nuclear war if Russia faces defeat in the war. He is said to be a close ally of President Putin and is also serving as the deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful Security Council.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church said the world would end if the west tried to destroy Russia. These statements are seen as rhetoric with intentions to deter the NATO alliance from getting more involved in the war. These statements were made on the eve of Ukraine’s meeting with allies to discuss weapon supplies.
The recognition of the possibility of Russia losing the war marked a rare moment of acknowledgement, especially from a prominent member of Putin’s inner circle.
“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said in a post on Telegram.
“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” said Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012.
In a sermon for Epiphany, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church struck a similar note. He stated attempting to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. Accepting that it is a worrying period for the Russian nation.
In order to bolster the West’s effort to defeat Russia in Ukraine, NATO and other defence officials are scheduled to gather on Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Medvedev said they should consider the dangers associated with their plan.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a sermon: “We pray to the Lord that he bring the madmen to reason and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world.”
“Today is an alarming time,” state news agency RIA quoted him as saying. “But we believe that the Lord will not leave Russian land.”
Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, told reporters in Minsk that Russia will make every effort to guarantee that NATO and EU leaders “woke up” as quickly as possible.
“I hope that the sobering up will come,” Lavrov said. “We will do everything so that our colleagues from NATO and the European Union sober up as soon as possible.”
Putin casts Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people.
