Photo: Ramil Sitdikov/Getty Images
For: The opinion Posted Jan 19, 2023, 5:20 pm EST
If he Russian army lost in the war against Ukraine would not sit idly by and could resort to nuclear weaponswarned one of the main allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Dmitry MedvedevVice President of the Russian Security Council and a character very close to Putin, launched the threat in a message posted on the Telegram messaging app.
“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war can cause the outbreak of a nuclear warMedvedev wrote in a message criticizing Western powers that have been sending military support to Ukraine.
The former president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 made these threatening statements one day before NATO powers attend a meeting in Germany to discuss increased military support for Ukraine.
“The nuclear powers do not lose major conflicts on which their fate depends,” also warned the current Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, who also said that the NATO and other leaders defense, they should reflect about the risks of its policy of aid to Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion almost a year ago, the Kremlin has made warnings about the use of nuclear weapons in an effort to discourage intervention by Western countries. However, Medvedev’s comment is the first time that Moscow has admitted the possibility of defeat and the consequences it would have.
The debate about war tanks
Medvedev’s warning comes amid debate in Western nations over whether or not they should send powerful tanks to Ukraine that they could tip the scales in favor of their ally in the war against Russia.
Although the United States, Germany and France, among other countries, have committed themselves in recent weeks to provide Ukraine with armored fighting vehiclesother allied nations disagree on sending big western main battle tanks.
kyiv and the President Volodimir Zelensky they have been putting pressure on his allies Westerners so that send more advanced armored vehicles, like the German Leopard 2 tank or the American M1 Abrams. The Ukrainians argue that more capable tanks would allow them to break through a front line that has remained relatively static.
You might also be interested in:
The United States will send a massive $2.5 billion security aid package to Ukraine
16 people die, including Ukraine’s interior minister, when a helicopter crashes in Kyiv next to a kindergarten