Europe

Medvedev: strategic nuclear weapons can be used to defend occupied territories

‘No going back’ on referendums planned for Russian-seized Ukrainian regions, former Russian president says

Marina Filippova (C), adviser to the head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), attends a meeting with heads of the territorial election commissions of the LPR. Photograph: EPA

Thu Sep 22 2022 - 11:54

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that any weapons in Moscow’s arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to defend territories joined to Russia from Ukraine.

Mr Medvedev, who also serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that referendums planned by Russian- installed and separatist authorities in large swathes of Ukrainian territory will take place, and “there is no going back”.

“The western establishment and all citizens of Nato countries in general need to understand that Russia has chosen its own path,” Mr Medvedev said.

“The Donbas [Donetsk and Luhansk] republics and other territories will be accepted into Russia,” he said, adding all the territories would be significantly strengthened by the Russian armed forces.

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“Russia has announced that not only mobilisation capabilities, but also any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, could be used for such protection.”

The referendums due to take place in the Russian-held parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, as well as part of Mykolaiv province, from Friday are widely expected to produce results overwhelmingly endorsing joining Russia.

The votes, being organised at a few days’ notice under military occupation, have been labelled shams by Kyiv and its western allies.

If formally admitted to the Russian Federation, the occupied territories, where Ukrainian counteroffensives have gathered pace in recent weeks, will under Moscow’s nuclear doctrine be entitled to protection from Russian nuclear weapons.

Moscow does not fully control any of the four regions it is expected to try to annex, with only around 60 per cent of Donetsk and 66 per cent of Zaporizhzhia regions held by the Russian army.

Mr Medvedev has regularly issued aggressive statements on the West and Ukraine in recent months, underlining his transformation from apparently western-minded liberaliser as president from 2008-2012 to strident geopolitical hawk. — Reuters

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