Moscow, Russia - An ally of President Vladimir Putin warned NATO on Thursday that a defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war, while the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said the world would end if the West tried to destroy Russia.
Such
apocalyptic rhetoric is intended to deter the U.S.-led NATO military alliance
from getting even more involved in the war, on the eve of a meeting of
Ukraine's allies to discuss sending Kyiv more weapons.
But the
explicit recognition that Russia might lose on the battlefield marked a rare
moment of public doubt from a prominent member of Putin's inner circle.
"The
defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear
war," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy
chairman of Putin's powerful security council, said in a post on Telegram.
"Nuclear
powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends," said
Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012.
Striking
a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the
head of the Russian Orthodox Church said in a sermon for Epiphany that trying
to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world.
Medvedev
said NATO and other defence leaders, due to meet at Ramstein Air Base in
Germany on Friday to talk about strategy and support for the West's attempt to
defeat Russia in Ukraine, should think about the risks of their policy.
Putin
casts Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine as an
existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that
Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people.
'ALARMING
TIME'
The
Kremlin chief has sought in recent months to gird Russians for a much tougher
battle while promising eventual victory in a war that the leaders of the West
say they will never let him win.
The
United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destroy Russia, while
President Joe Biden has cautioned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could
trigger World War Three.
But top
Putin allies say the tens of billions of dollars' worth of U.S. and European
military assistance to Ukraine shows that Russia is now in a confrontation with
NATO itself - the Cold War nightmare of both Soviet and Western leaders.
Patriarch
Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a sermon: "We
pray to the Lord that he bring the madmen to reason and help them understand
that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world."
"Today
is an alarming time," state news agency RIA quoted him as saying.
"But we believe that the Lord will not leave Russian land."
Putin's
foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Minsk that Russia would do
everything to ensure NATO and European Union leaders "sobered up" as
soon as possible.
"I
hope that the sobering up will come," Lavrov said. "We will do
everything so that our colleagues from NATO and the European Union sober up as
soon as possible."
NUCLEAR
DOCTRINE
Russia’s
Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European
conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and
the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The
United States and its allies have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an
imperial land grab, while Ukraine has vowed to fight until the last Russian
soldier is ejected from its territory.
Since
Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of a nuclear
war, but his admission now of the possibility of Russia's defeat indicates the
level of Moscow's concern over increased Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
Russia
and the United States, by far the largest nuclear powers, hold around 90% of
the world's nuclear warheads.
Asked if
Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new
level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not
mean that."
He said
Medvedev's remarks were in full accordance with Russia's nuclear doctrine which
allows for a nuclear strike after "aggression against the Russian
Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is
threatened".
*Reuters,
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Felix Light in Tbilisi; Editing by
Mark Trevelyan
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/putin-ally-medvedev-warns-nuclear-074558491.html