Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man has warned that World War 3 is “getting closer” after NATO held a summit with Ukraine over its membership.
Ukraine’s potential membership with NATO was discussed in detail earlier this week, with allies refusing to lay out a map of how long it would take the war-ravaged nation to join the union.
But the talks reportedly infuriated Russian despot Putin, with a key backer of the president saying the world was hurtling towards war thanks to NATO entertaining Ukraine’s membership.
According to Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, any pact between NATO and Ukraine would not halt Moscow’s ambitions in the West.
The deputy secretary of the Kremlin’s Security Council’s threat on Telegram came after the first day of NATO’s Lithuanian summit came to a close.
He said: “The completely mad West could not come up with anything else. In fact, it’s a dead end. World War Three is getting closer.
“What does all this mean for us? Everything is obvious. The special military operation will continue with the same goals.”
Medvedev has in the past made numerous threats towards the West, particularly as tensions erupted last year when Russia moved to begin war with Ukraine.
Prior to this latest intervention, he claimed nuclear oblivion faced the planet with World War 3 a certainty.
Speaking in Moscow last month, the politician blamed the West for risking Armageddon, though Dmitry Peskkov – the presidential spokesman – has since poured scorn on the claims.
Instead, he insisted the West’s decision to help Ukraine would have very, very negative consequences”.
The spokesman added: “By providing any security guarantees to Ukraine, these countries are actually ignoring the international principle of the indivisibility of security.
“That is, by providing security guarantees to Ukraine, they encroach on the security of the Russian Federation.”
The threats come as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out yesterday at what he described as “absurd” timewasting over Kyiv’s NATO inclusion.
The president said there was “no readiness” for Ukraine to join NATO, despite British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying there was “demonstrable progress” in Kyiv’s pathway to membership.
However, Mr Zelensky concluded: “It’s unprecedented and absurd when the time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.
“While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance.”
