Putin’s ally says Russia “will no longer exist” if it loses war

Russia’s former president (2008-2012), Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of the current ruler, Vladimir Putin, said Wednesday (22) that the country would be “torn apart” and “will no longer exist” if it does not emerge victorious from the war in Ukraine.

The conflict, which will complete one year on Friday (24), began with an invasion promoted by Moscow, which claimed the objectives of protecting “ethnic Russians” in eastern Ukraine and of “denazifying” and “demilitarizing” the neighboring country.

Medvedev, now vice-chairman of Russia’s Security Council, commented on his Telegram channel on the speech that US President Joe Biden delivered in Poland on Tuesday (21), a day after a surprise visit to Ukraine.

“Paraphrasing a well-known expression, Biden said in Warsaw, ‘If Russia stops its invasion, it [the invasion] will end now. If the Ukrainians stop defending themselves, it will be the end of Ukraine.’ This is a pure lie. The truth is exactly the opposite,” Medvedev wrote.

“If Russia stops its special military operation without achieving victory, it will no longer exist and be torn apart. If the United States stops supplying arms to the Kyiv regime, the war will end,” Putin’s ally pointed out, claiming that a Ukrainian defeat would not represent the end of the former Soviet republic’s autonomy.

On Tuesday, claiming that the United States intends to resume nuclear testing, Putin announced Russia’s withdrawal from the New START agreement, which limited the number of strategic nuclear weapons of the two countries until 2026, with a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 ballistic systems.

With information from Gazeta do Povo