Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now been going on for one month. Thousands of civilians have died, along with an estimated 4,000 Ukrainian troops.
Russia, meanwhile, is estimated to have lost around 17,000 troops during its disastrous campaign. This war is not going how Vladimir Putin hoped, and it’s also a tragedy for the people of Ukraine.
Russian civilians are likewise suffering and have been locked out of the world financial system. Their cards don’t work and many large companies have left Russia. Economic collapse is on the horizon for Russia.
It’s almost a return to the isolated, poverty-stricken days of the USSR. If there was ever a good motivation to turn around and stop the fighting, Russia has it.
However, the elite leadership of Russia says they won’t be doing anything of the kind.
Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev says if Russia feels the threat is big enough from the West, it will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons down to the very last warhead in its arsenal.
Medvedev’s Menacing Threats
Dmitry Medvedev is the former president of Russia and is one of Putin’s top supporters in Russia today. While serving as president from 2008 to 2012, Medvedev worked hard to bolster Russia’s military and increase its world power.
He currently sits high in Russia’s national security establishment and recently issued a statement saying the United States and NATO are trying to kill Russia.
According to Medvedev, the West has been engaged in an ongoing plot to kill Russia since the end of the USSR in 1991.
Medvedev says the multi-pronged Western plot is actually fairly simple: they want to “dive and destroy” Russia, leaving it “humiliated” and destroyed.
Medvedev’s opinion sounds extreme and even deranged to many in the West, but among Russia’s conservatives and leadership, it is a mainstream view.
The expansion of NATO and Western power has convinced Medvedev, Putin, and others that Washington and Brussels want to destroy their country and turn Russia into a colony of Europe and the US.
The destruction of the world’s biggest country by area, Medvedev said, could lead to an unstable leadership in Moscow “with a maximum number of nuclear weapons aimed at targets in the US and Europe”.
— MzansiTimes (@mzansi_times) March 23, 2022
Russia vs. USA?
According to Medvedev, if the US and NATO push Russia too far it will unleash its full nuclear arsenal and cause a “nuclear dystopia” that will end the world as we know it.
Medvedev’s statement is bad news for many who are hoping for a de-escalation of the current tragic conflict. Attempts to negotiate between Russia and Ukraine have, so far, been unsuccessful.
This war could go on for much longer than anybody wants without a clear outcome, especially given how many troops Putin is willing to lose.
Right now, Russia’s army is stretched thin and it’s lost a number of key generals. Yet, there is no sign it’s going to give up; fresh reinforcements are expected to be moving in by April.
This is a dark time for the world, and Medvedev’s angry words just add to the tension.
Maybe so. Lunacy does not believe they are fake though. That is what should frighten us all. An isolated man with sole and complete power of a nuclear state at war. Putin took back control after Medvedev after he watched Saddam's demise.
— John Murray (@seanomuiri) March 21, 2022
