Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, the country’s second-highest official and President Vladimir Putin’s closest aide, warned on Wednesday that Ukraine’s joining of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be considered a declaration of war, adding that whether the globe would turn into ashes depends on how carefully the NATO behaves. It is interpreted that Russia would not avoid a third World War using nuclear arms if it is put under threat by Ukraine’s new membership to the group.
Deputy Chairman Medvedev told the Russian weekly magazine “Arguments and Facts” that Russia has no intention of menacing or attacking NATO, and thus, it is Western countries that have caused all that is happening, adding that anti-Russian forces’ several years of expanding their alliance have driven the NATO into an irreversible situation.
He also made it clear that Russia is not intent on turning NATO members and their citizens into radioactive ash, saying that the principle of “an eye for an eye” is only a historically originated response. Criticizing NATO as Washington’s puppet, he complained that not only NATO members but also this single country - the United States – make all significant decisions, making it hard for Russia to find any Western world government to talk to.
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