Medvedev's threat to NATO, DASH: Irresponsible rhetoric!

The US State Department has called “irresponsible rhetoric” the statement by the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, who accused NATO and officials from countries allied with Ukraine in its fight against Russian occupying forces of being involved in the conflict, saying that this makes them “legitimate military targets.” A US State Department spokesman said that “the United States and NATO are not seeking conflict with Russia.”

"NATO is a defensive alliance, but any military action against a NATO ally will provoke a harsh response," the spokesman said.

Reacting to an editorial in the Times newspaper that described the killing of a top Russian general on December 17 as a "legitimate act of self-defense by a threatened nation ," Medvedev said Moscow should apply the same logic to its stance.

In its article, the Times newspaper said that the general's killing was "an attack on an aggressor" and that it underscores the need for Western governments to give Ukraine "all the support it needs to wage a just war of self-defense."

"All officials of NATO countries involved in decisions on military assistance to Ukraine and those participating in hybrid or conventional warfare against Russia are now considered legitimate military targets for the Russian state and all Russian patriots," Medvedev wrote in a response.

The State Department spokesman said that the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine is the "greatest and most direct threat" to European security and peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.

"It is the Kremlin that started this war, and Putin can end it today," he added.

Asked about Medvedev's comments, NATO's press office responded by email, saying: " We will get back to you if we have anything to say."

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his aide were killed by a bomb hidden on a scooter near the entrance to a building in Moscow in the early hours of December 17. Kirillov is among several Russian officers and pro-war figures who have been killed in Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

A week ago, a senior official of a Russian company that develops cruise missiles used by Moscow in war was shot dead near the capital. Medvedev's rhetoric stems from the Kremlin's long-standing narrative of blaming Western "forces" for anti-Russian actions around the world and for acts of sabotage and "terrorism" in Russia.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on December 17 that the United States was not involved in Kirillov's assassination and had no prior knowledge of it. Russian investigators described the killing as a "terrorist" attack and immediately attributed it to Ukrainian intelligence.

On December 18, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a suspect – a 29-year-old Uzbek national who has not been identified by name – in connection with the case. Medvedev also threatened the Times with retaliation, warning in dark tones that the newspaper could be included in a list of “legitimate military targets”, adding that “a lot happens in London… be careful”.

This warning appears to be an indirect reference to the radiation poisoning of former FSB officer and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, as well as the attempted assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in the British city of Salisbury with a deadly nerve agent in 2018./ REL