Former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued a nuclear-response warning on Friday, saying that the "clock is ticking."
Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, tensions between NATO countries and the Kremlin have continued, with NATO leaders increasingly warning that direct conflict with Moscow is a realistic possibility. This comes after Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened a nuclear escalation in the war against Kyiv and its Western partners.
In a Friday Telegram post, Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and a former Russian president, suggested that Ukraine is trying to "create a dirty bomb," adding that they "have all the resources to do this."
"Considering the seemingly meaningless chatter around the creation of nuclear weapons by...Ukraine, one can only make one sad conclusion: The Nazi regime is trying to create a 'dirty bomb.' It has all the resources to do this: raw materials, technology, specialists. And any Soviet-era laboratory will do for making a low-power charge. The clock is ticking," Medvedev said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly attempted to justify its 2022 invasion of Ukraine by claiming that a "neo-Nazi regime" is in charge of the country, which has been emphatically rejected by Ukraine and the international community.
Medvedev's remarks come amid reports that restrictions on Kyiv's use of Western weapons will soon be lifted. Ukraine has pressed hard for the U.S. and the United Kingdom to drop their prohibition against the targeting of Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles. There have been concerns that such use would escalate the conflict.
Newsweek has reached out to Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries via email for comment.
Kyiv says it needs the long-range weapons to target air bases used by Russia's warplanes that launch glide bombs against Ukraine, often from deep inside Russian territory. Storm Shadow missiles with a range of around 150 miles have been used against Russian targets only in occupied Ukrainian territory.
This is not the first Medvedev has warned of a nuclear response during the war. He previously made headlines for regular social media rants that have ranged from calls for nuclear strikes on NATO members to suggestions that Moscow has no choice but to eliminate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a Telegram post last month, Medvedev spoke about a nuclear response, writing: "Yet, Russia has been patient. It is obvious that a nuclear response is a hugely complex decision with irreversible consequences. What arrogant Anglo-Saxon dimwits fail to admit, though, is that you can only test someone's patience for so long."
In late September, Putin announced that his country would be reassessing its deterrence policy and warned that provocations by Ukraine and its allies could cross Moscow's red line on the use of nuclear weapons.
These updated guidelines, the Russian leader said, would consider "aggression against Russia by any nonnuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as their joint attack on the Russian Federation."
Meanwhile, responding to a previous inquiry from Newsweek, the U.S. State Department dismissed the seriousness of Medvedev's various statements.
"We know by now not to take Medvedev seriously," a department spokesperson wrote. "This is standard Kremlin nonsense."
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