MOSCOW: Deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday warned that any Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites inside Russia with US arms would risk a nuclear response from Moscow.
A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin said that some Ukrainian military commanders were considering striking missile launch sites inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range weapons.
Medvedev in a post on social media platform Telegram did not disclose the names of the commanders or the alleged plan.
Paragraph nineteen of Russia’s 2020 nuclear doctrine mentions the conditions under which a Russian president would consider using a nuclear weapon.
Medvedev in his statement made specific mention of point “g” of paragraph nineteen which talks about the nuclear response to a conventional arms attack.
Putin is the final authority when it comes to Russia’s nuclear arsenal, but diplomats say Medvedev’s views give an indication of hawkish thinking of the Kremlin.
Kremlin critics have rejected some of Medvedev’s nuclear threats in the past as attempts to seek attention or to discourage the West from supplying Ukraine with more weapons. The United States and its allies have committed nearly $250 billion in military and other support to Kyiv.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser said that Washington had communicated concerns to Moscow about any steps towards using a nuclear device.
Russia and the United States are the world’s biggest nuclear powers. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has 5,889 nuclear warheads while the US has about 5,244 nuclear warheads.
