Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said over the weekend that Russia might have to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine engages in its ongoing counter-offensive and is successful.
On July 30, Mr. Medvedev said in a message on his official social media accounts that Russia would be forced to fall back on its own nuclear weapons doctrine if such a scenario unfolds. He didn’t elaborate.
“There would simply be no other way out” of using nuclear weapons if Ukraine’s offensive is a success and some Russian territory is taken, he said on Twitter and elsewhere. “Just imagine that the NATO-supported [Ukraine’s] offensive turned out successful, and they took away a part of our land: then we would have to, following the President’s degree (sic) of 02.06.2020, use the nuclear weapon.”
Mr. Medvedev said that’s why “our enemies must worship our warriors” because, according to the Kremlin, “they are keeping global nuclear fire from flaring up,” referring to Russian efforts to stop Ukraine from taking its land.
“P.S. The unmanned underwater vehicle Poseidon sends its greetings and recommends the enemies of our country to pray for all the Russian marines’ health,” he wrote.
Mr. Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has made a number of comments about the use of nuclear weapons since the start of the Russia–Ukraine conflict in early 2022. He has cast himself as one of Moscow’s most hawkish voices and was apparently referring to part of Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which states that nuclear weapons can be used in response to aggression against Russia.
Ukraine has stated that it’s trying to retake territory that Russia has unilaterally annexed and declared part of its own territory, a move condemned by Kyiv and much of the West.
Kremlin critics have, in the past, accused Mr. Medvedev of making bombastic statements in an effort to dissuade Western countries from continuing to supply Ukraine with arms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 29 that there were no serious battlefield changes to report in recent days and that Ukraine had lost large amounts of military equipment since June 4.
Nuclear Warnings
Mr. Medvedev hasn’t shied from issuing warnings about nuclear weapons in regard to internal matters. During Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed march on Moscow, Mr. Medvedev said such a rebellion could lead to a nuclear war.In April, he warned of a Russian nuclear expansion if Finland or Sweden joined NATO. Finland has since joined the military bloc, while Sweden’s membership was cleared last month after founding member Turkey dropped its objections.
In September 2022, Mr. Medvedev claimed that strategic nuclear weapons could be deployed to defend territories annexed by Russia from Ukraine. Months later, in January, the former president said a Russian defeat in the war could lead to a worldwide nuclear conflict.
“The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war,” he wrote on the Telegram app in January. “Nuclear powers do not lose major conflicts on which their fate depends. This should be obvious to anyone. Even to a Western politician who has retained at least some trace of intelligence.”
Mr. Putin in June said Moscow had moved the first series of tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus and said they’re there for deterrence. The remainder of the tactical nuclear weapons that will be moved to Belarus will be sent there by the end of the summer, or perhaps by the end of 2023, he said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The federal Defense Intelligence Agency responded by saying that it had “no reason to doubt” Mr. Putin’s claim that Belarus now has Russian nukes. However, U.S. officials have often said publicly that Washington has no reason to change its nuclear posture and have said that there’s no indication that Russia is going to use a nuclear weapon, despite the threats.
