Former Russian President Dmytro Medvedev said that providing more advanced American weapons to Ukraine would only provoke additional retaliatory strikes from Moscow, up to the level of Russia’s nuclear doctrine, Reuters reports.

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry MedvedevPhoto: Mykhailo Metzel / TASS / Profimedia Images

“All of Ukraine, which will remain under the power of Kyiv, will burn,” Medvedev told journalist Nadana Friedrichson.

Friedrichson asked Medvedev, who as vice president of the Security Council became one of Russia’s staunchest pro-war figures after its invasion of Ukraine, whether the use of long-range weapons could force Russia to negotiate with Kiev.

“The result will be the exact opposite,” Medvedev replied in an interview that Friedrichson published on his Telegram channel.

“Only moral bastards, of which there are many in both the White House and the Capitol, could argue like that.”

The Pentagon said on Friday that a new missile that would double the strike range of Ukraine is included in a $2.2 billion US military aid package.

Nearly a year after the invasion began, Russian forces have made no progress in the past eight months and do not fully control any of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow annexed.

What is Russia’s nuclear doctrine

President Vladimir Putin presents Russia’s campaign in Ukraine as an existential defense against an aggressive West and, like Medvedev, has repeatedly threatened a nuclear response, saying Russia will use all available means to defend itself and its people.

Asked what would happen if the weapons Washington promised Ukraine hit Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, or deep inside Russia, Medvedev said Putin had made that clear.

“We do not set any restrictions, and depending on the nature of the threats, we are ready to use all types of weapons. According to our doctrinal documents, including the Fundamentals of Nuclear Deterrence,” he said.

“I can assure you that the response will be swift, tough and convincing.”

Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after “aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state is threatened.”

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