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Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev says the west is waging a full-scale war against Russia
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The West is waging a full-scale war against Russia, and Moscow should respond in full, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said.
Mr Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, cast himself as a liberal moderniser when he was president from 2008-2012, but has since emerged as an anti-Western Kremlin hawk.
“What is happening today is a proxy war, but in essence it is a full-scale war (launches of Western missiles, satellite intelligence, etc), sanctions packages, loud statements about the militarisation of Europe,” Russian state news agency TASS cited Mr Medvedev as saying.
“It’s another attempt to destroy the ‘historical anomaly’ hated by the West – Russia, our country.”
“We need to act accordingly. To respond in full. And if necessary, launch preemptive strikes,” he said, adding that many in the West had treachery in their blood and an outdated view of their own superiority.
Mr Medvedev also dismissed claims that Russia could one day attack Nato or Europe as complete rubbish, noting that President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly rejected such assertions too.
The Kremlin, asked about Medvedev’s remarks, said that he had expressed his opinion and that his concerns about the “confrontational” environment of Europe were justified.
Russia is continuing to analyse the impacts of possible secondary tariffs against buyers of Russian exports, as announced by Donald Trump.
The Kremlin has so far reacted icily to Trump’s warnings to President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying that decisions taken by the US president and Nato would be interpreted by Kyiv as a signal to continue the war.
Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine on Monday and threatened “biting” secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days.
Putin has not yet commented publicly on Trump’s threats.
On Thursday, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that the Kremlin chief would comment if he judges it fit to do so.
The Kremlin has said that the decision to sometimes switch off the mobile internet across Russia was justified to protect people from threats posed by Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about internet outages after the internet outage tracking service Sboi.rf reported unstable internet in dozens of Russian regions this week.
Authorities are known to turn off mobile internet when necessary to try to disrupt Ukrainian drone attacks.
The Kremlin has responded to remarks made by former president Dmitry Medvedev about potential preemptive strikes on the West.
Kremlin said that Medvedev had expressed his opinion and that his concerns about the “confrontational” environment of Europe were justified.
President Zelensky on Thursday said Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for Euro-Atlantic integration, will be Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States.
Zelensky wrote on Telegram that he had appointed her as the special presidential representative to the US so that she could develop relations with Washington while the procedures necessary for her appointment took place.
Stefanishyna has served as Ukraine’s minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration since 2020, during which time Ukraine began its accession process to the EU.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced unspecified future agreements with the United States which he said would strengthen his country, as he appeared in parliament to put forward his new government.
Zelensky also said he would task the new government with auditing existing defence procurement contracts as part of a push to produce 50% of the country’s weapons and battlefield equipment in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s parliament has voted to appoint Yulia Svyrydenko as the country’s new prime minister.
Opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said 262 lawmakers voted for Svyrydenko, a comfortable majority in the 450-seat parliament.
Her appointment was supported by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Svyrydenko, 39, has served as economy minister and one of Ukraine’s deputy prime ministers since November 2021.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more bodies of their war dead, a Kremlin aide has said.
The swap was part of an agreement struck at the second round of peace talks in Istanbul in June.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation at those peace talks, said in a statement on Telegram that Moscow had handed over the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers and had received 19 bodies of its fallen soldiers in return.
The RIA state news agency reported, citing a source, that Russia plans to return the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers and that the exchange on Thursday was the beginning of that process.
The warring sides have carried out a series of swaps of captured troops and the remains of dead soldiers since renewing peace talks in Istanbul in May following a gap of more than three years.
Read the full story below:
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that the West was practically waging a full-scale war against Russia, so Moscow should respond in full, and if necessary, launch preventative strikes, according to reports.
“We need to act accordingly. Respond in full. And if necessary, launch preventative strikes,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS.
Medvedev dismissed statements by Western officials that Russia could attack Europe as complete rubbish.
“Let me remind you that our president has unequivocally stated that Russia has no intention of fighting Nato or ‘attacking Europe’,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, is known for frequently issuing aggressive statements and empty threats towards the West.
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Ukraine war live: Putin ally threatens preventative strikes against West – The Independent
