Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted by TASS last Sunday as saying that “Judgement Day will come very fast and hard” if Crimea is attacked. Moscow annexed the formerly Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, when a Western-backed revolution ousted pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych.
Medvedev, who currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, made the comments while meeting with WWII veterans during his trip to Russia’s southern city of Volgograd.
In his opinion, Russia’s goals for Ukraine’s demilitarisation and denazification are close to being a fait accompli. Any hope for the regime in Kyiv to regroup, he said, “is quite weak, as they are behaving inadequately.” He continued, saying that “endless attempts at continuing this campaign, as it is said today, until the last Ukrainian, will obviously lead to the collapse of the current political regime, despite their efforts to fight back.”
Well aware that his country is experiencing “a very difficult page of modern history,” the Councilman Medvedev remained convinced that Russia “will emerge from this trial with dignity; will become stronger. And we will attain our goals for the sake of the development of our country.” In any scenario where Ukraine would attempt to take the fight to the Russians, more specifically to the Crimean peninsula (their Black Sea fleet resides at Sevastopol), Medvedev was brief. “Judgment Day will come very fast and hard. It will be very difficult to hide,” he stated.
What the nature of this Bible-inspired ‘judgement’ would be, Medvedev did not go into specifics about. The former leader has a history of posting belligerent tweets (before his Twitter account was cancelled) and, later, Telegram posts. On one occasion, he warned the U.S. of the dangers of attempting to punish a nuclear power such as Russia, saying this could endanger humanity.
Earlier on Sunday, Interfax quoted Medvedev as telling the veterans: “If any other state, be it Ukraine or NATO countries, believes that Crimea is not Russian, then this is a systemic threat for us.”
Medvedev’s latest airings come one day after Vadym Skibitskyi, an official at Ukrainian military intelligence, suggested that Crimea could be a target for HIMARS missiles. These were recently supplied by the U.S, and are expected to be followed by more.
Ukrainian intelligence officer Skibitskyi confirmed in a televised interview on Saturday that HIMARS could be fired at the territory. The peninsula is used as a launching pad for Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian soil, which makes it justified, he said.
Since the official’s statement, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered his forces to focus on taking out Ukraine’s long-distance weaponry.
