17-07-2025
Putin ally suggests launching 'preventative strikes' against the West for practically waging 'full-scale war' on Russia - as Trump sours on Kremlin
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the West of practically waging a full-scale war against Russia and declared Moscow should respond in full - potentially with pre-emptive strikes on Western nations.
'What is happening today is a proxy war, but in essence it is a full-scale war, sanctions packages, loud statements about the militarisation of Europe,' Medvedev said in his latest tirade, carried by the TASS news agency.
'It's another attempt to destroy the 'historical anomaly' hated by the West - Russia, our country.
'We need to act accordingly, to respond in full. And if necessary, launch pre-emptive strikes.'
He went on to add that many in the West had 'treachery in their blood' and a 'sick, very outdated view of their own superiority'.
Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, cast himself as a liberal moderniser when he was president from 2008-2012, but has since emerged as an anti-Western Kremlin hawk.
He now routinely spouts virulent anti-Western rhetoric and has accused the US, UK and Western European nations of trying to undermine Moscow for centuries.
His fiery comments come days after US President Donald Trump announced he was 'very unhappy' with his opposite number in the Kremlin and would slap '100 per cent tariffs' on Russia - plus secondary sanctions on its trading partners - if a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine is not reached in 50 days.
Meanwhile, the US and allies in Europe are now hashing out a deal to transfer yet more sophisticated weapons systems, including air defence systems, to Kyiv.
The US-led NATO military alliance casts Russia as a major threat and politicians across Western Europe have said that Russia, which in 2022 sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, could one day attack a member of NATO.
Medvedev has roundly rejected those claims as 'complete rubbish', noting that President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly rejected such assertions too.
'Let me remind you that our president has stated unequivocally: Russia is not going to fight NATO or attack Europe.
'The statements of Western politicians on this topic are complete nonsense. I would add that this nonsense is being deliberately thrown into the information space in order to destabilise an already difficult situation.
'This is another flank of the West's open war against us,' he said.
Diplomats say Medvedev's remarks give an indication of thinking among some of the more hawkish members of Russia's political elite.
Medvedev may be emboldened by news that the Trump administration is running out of patience with Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office this week, the US President's anger at Moscow's escalating attacks on Ukraine boiled over.
'We are very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 per cent,' he said in the Oval Office.
He also threatened to levy secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian exports to discourage them from keeping funds flowing into the Kremlin's war chest.
Until now, the US and its European allies have declined to impose measures that would restrict Russia from exporting its oil and gas elsewhere.
Such a move would constitute a dramatic ramping up of Western efforts to back Ukraine as it would likely see Washington and the EU target countries such as China, India and NATO member Turkey, all of whom import huge quantities of Russian energy.
'I'm disappointed in President Putin. I thought we would've had a deal two months ago,' he went on, in reference to a US-proposed ceasefire deal that Kyiv accepted but was rejected by Moscow.
In response, leading Russian propagandist Igor Korotchenko said Moscow must use the 50-day period before sanctions are imposed to win the war by destroying Ukraine.
Korotchenko, a former colonel-turned-military analyst and editor-in-chief of National Defence magazine, told state-TV: 'Weakening the potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' rear support system will force Ukraine to accept Russia's terms
'It is necessary to intensify Russian strikes… to the maximum extent possible. Scaling up this approach, we can achieve success.'
Trump earlier this week also struck a deal with NATO counterparts in Europe to send sophisticated weaponry, including sorely needed Patriot air defence missiles, to Ukraine - but insisted that the US would not foot the bill.
'We've made a deal today where we are going to be sending [Ukraine] weapons and [Europe] is going to be paying for them,' he stated.
'We - the United States - will not be having any payment made. We're not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they're going to be paying for it.'
The workings of the deal struck between the White House and European nations to provide and finance the delivery of advanced weapons systems to Ukraine were not immediately clear.
Many European countries appeared to get on board with the announcement, though Trump's move to take credit for the additional weapons headed to Ukraine created some mild friction in Europe.
'If we pay for these weapons, it's our support,' said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, speaking after the Brussels meeting, adding that she welcomed Trump's decision.
'So it's European support, and we are doing as much as we can to help Ukraine ... If you promise to give the weapons, but say that somebody else is going to pay for it, it's not really given by you, is it?'
Washington also retains some $3.85 billion worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) left over from the Biden administration at its disposal to provide weapons to Ukraine.
The PDA allows the president to draw from US weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency.
Trump has not sent any weapons to Ukraine that were not previously approved under the Biden administration.
