The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council (who was both the country’s prime minister and president) says that if kyiv receives nuclear weapons, Russia will launch a “preemptive nuclear strike.”
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Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Russia will launch a preemptive nuclear strike against Ukraine if the Ukrainians receive nuclear weapons from their allies.
“There are inexorable laws in war. Yes there are [o fornecimento à Ucrânia de] nuclear weapons, a preemptive strike will have to be launched,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by the official Russian news agency TASS on Friday during a visit to Vietnam.
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Medvedev (who between 2008 and 2020 alternated with Putin as Prime Minister or President of Russia) added that the NATO countries they are expanding the types of weapons they are sending to Ukraine and that “the kyiv regime is likely to receive fighter jets (F-16)” and “maybe nuclear weapons.”
“But, it means that missiles with nuclear charges will fall” about Ukrainians, said Medvedev, Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 and current leader of United Russia, the Kremlin-linked political party.
Medvedev’s statements come after the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, announced on Thursday the start of the transfer of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to its territory.
Lukashenko: Moscow has already started transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stressed that the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus does not mean they will be delivered to the allied country.
“Russia is not handing over nuclear weapons to the Republic of Belarus. Control over these weapons and the decision to use them remains on the Russian side,” Shoigu emphasized.
Source: Observadora
