An ally of Vladimir Putin has told the United States to “tremble and shake” as he rejected talks on limiting nuclear firepower.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council, called Americans “nits”.
He also suggested there could be no reduction in the number of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles until the U.S. withdrew aid for Ukraine.
The attacks on U.S. foreign policy came in a lengthy social media tirade that geopolitical analysts told Newsweek was sabre-rattling designed to impress Medvedev’s domestic audience.
The statements made on Telegram criticized America’s simultaneous efforts to arm Ukraine and pacify Russia.
“Americans continue to treat everyone as complete idiots,” Medvedev said.
“Just imagine if Nazi Germany during World War II turned to the USSR with a proposal to include in a separate negotiation track the issue of restrictions on the production of any weapons.”
The latest Russian rhetoric comes as Western support for Ukraine has reached a new apex.
Medvedev’s comments were in response to efforts by the U.S. to re-engage Russia in the signing of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START.
The last START, named New Start, was signed by President Barack Obama and Medvedev himself in Prague in 2010. This agreement called for both nations to halve the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers in their arsenal, and established a new inspection system to corroborate this.
In 2021, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin agreed to extend the treaty for five years to February 2026. in February 2023, however, Russia suspended its involvement in New Start, though it did not formally withdraw from the agreement.
In March 2024, America approached Russia hoping to resume talks on a framework to succeed New START, though this was swiftly rejected by the country’s leaders.
Medvedev, referencing U.S. attempts to re-engage the country in nuclear de-proliferation, wrote: “The United States quite seriously proposes that we negotiate on a new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons. We, they say, will supply the neo-Nazis with all types of weapons, including long-range missiles and aircraft, and discuss the new START Treaty with you.”
Medvedev termed the U.S. strategy as “absurdity, madness, delirium of a madman.”
The post continued: “What rude, cynical creatures! No, this is only possible after refusing to supply weapons to the Bandera regime and blocking its admission to NATO.” Medvedev’s comments were in reference to Stepan Andriyovych Bandera, a Ukrainian far right leader who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists between 1940 and 1959.
The Russian politician, whose controversial posts on Telegram have been shown to coincide with deliveries of wine to his house, capped off his polemic with a mockery of U.S. fretting over Russia’s military arsenal.
“Let their entire elite worry! Let them tremble and shake, you nits!”
However, whether Medvedev’s comments can be taken as signalling further Russian aggression is unclear.
Orysia Lutsevych, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme and head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, told Newsweek that Medvedev’s post should be taken with a pinch of salt.
“Much of what he says is for local consumption,” Lutsevych said.
Medvedev’s comments follow further commitments from the U.S. and its allies to finance Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion.
At the G7 last week, member nations agreed to use frozen Russian assets to finance a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
Additionally, on Thursday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that the U.S. would redirect planned shipments of defensive Patriot missiles to Ukraine scheduled for delivery to other nations.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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