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'Russia interested in solving Ukraine crisis through talks', says former President

Dmitry Medvedev says Russia is not interested in a direct conflict with NATO

Ukraine soldiers (File) Soldiers of the Ukrainian 3rd Army Assault Brigade of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) "Azov" are in a trench in position near Bakhmut | AP

Former Russian President and deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said Russia is not interested in a direct conflict with NATO and it aims to resolve the Ukraine crisis through talks.

Al Jazeera quoted Medvedev saying Moscow is not planning to enter into a direct conflict with NATO and is interested in resolving the crisis through talks. Medvedev warned any attempt by Ukraine to take the Crimean Peninsula would be grounds for Moscow to use absolutely any weapon against Kyiv. 

“An attempt to split part of the state away means an encroachment at the very existence of the state,” he said. “Quite obviously, it warrants the use of any weapons. I hope our friends across the ocean realise that.”

Medvedev warned that the consequences of a potential confrontation between the Russian and the United States' armies would be disastrous. 

Though known for his bombastic pronouncements, Medvedev's warning stems from the Russian security doctrine envisaging the use of nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or an attack with conventional weapons that threatens the very existence of the Russian state.

Medvedev also said that Western experts operating weapons, such as the US-made Patriot air defence missile systems supplied to Ukraine, would be legitimate targets for the Russian military.

Ukrainian soldiers have received training in the US, although Russian officials have frequently claimed that foreign instructors are present in Ukraine.

“If Patriot or other weapons are delivered to the territory of Ukraine along with foreign experts, they certainly make legitimate targets, which must be destroyed,” Medvedev told reporters in video clips he posted on his messaging app channel. “They are combatants, they are the enemies of our state and they must be destroyed.”

“They must understand that as soon as an American or a Polish soldier shows up there, he must be killed,” he added.

“The Kremlin's goal is to create a sanitary cordon of up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) around Russian-held areas so short- and mid-range weapons can't strike them,” according to Medvedev.

“Moscow may even set its sights on grabbing a bigger chunk of Ukrainian territory, stretching all the way to the border with Poland,” he said. 

(With PTI inputs.)

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