Ex-Russian president warns NATO of ‘Apocalypse’

A full-scale war between Russia and NATO would leave Moscow with no choice but to deploy its nuclear assets, former president Dmitry Medvedev has said. He reiterated, however, that his country is not seeking a conflict with the US-led military bloc.

Writing on Telegram on Wednesday, Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, pushed back against statements by numerous Western leaders urging their countries to prepare for a potential conflict with Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly said it has no plans of staging a conflict with NATO and the EU, he noted, despite the latter continuing “a dangerous drivel” on the issue. He suggested that this narrative is designed to divert the attention of Western voters away from massive spending on aid for Ukraine – an effort he said many have already grown tired of.

Medvedev argued that this fatigue stems from Western leaders’ desire to help “a dying country that is foreign to taxpayers,” while neglecting social problems at home. “Therefore, every day the leaders of these countries broadcast: We need to prepare for war with Russia and continue to help Ukraine,” he said.

However, Medvedev warned that a possible Moscow-NATO war would be drastically different to the Ukraine conflict and would not rely on the use of artillery, tanks, and drones. He noted that the alliance has a combined population of nearly one billion people and defense spending reaching $1.5 trillion, making it far superior to Russia.

Since our military capabilities are incomparable, we will simply have no choice. The response will be asymmetrical. To protect the territorial integrity of our country, ballistic and cruise missiles with special warheads will be used… This will be the proverbial Apocalypse. The end of everything.

Against this backdrop, he urged Western politicians to tell their voters the “bitter truth” about what would happen in the event of war with Russia instead of “treating them like brainless idiots.”

Russian officials have repeatedly said they have never threatened to use nuclear weapons, but have noted that they could be deployed if the very existence of the state were threatened. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said Moscow “has no interest… geopolitically, economically or militarily… in waging war against NATO.” Russia, however, has argued that the bloc’s expansion towards its borders poses an existential threat.