Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Ukraine on Sunday that it would face a “doomsday” response if it were to launch an attack against Crimea.
Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the threat during a meeting with World War Two veterans in the Russian city of Volgograd on Sunday, according to Russian state media. The warning comes as Ukrainian forces continue to use Western weapons effectively, such as the HIMARS rocket system, to hit Russian military targets.
“Some ecstatic bloody clowns, who pop up there with some statements now and then, are trying to threaten us, I mean attacks on Crimea and so on,” Medvedev said, according to Tass.
“Should anything of the kind happen, they will be faced with a doomsday, very quick and tough, immediately. There will be no avoiding it. But they keep on provoking the general situation by such statements,” he added.
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Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, maintaining a historical claim on the peninsula it colonized in the 18th century. The annexation violated several international agreements, and Crimea is not recognized as Russian territory by the United States and numerous Western nations.
The former Russian president reportedly told the group of veterans that this resistance to Russia’s claims of ownership of Crimea is a “threat” to Russia.
“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 is quoted as saying, according to Interfax.
Medvedev’s warning comes a day after a Ukrainian official said that the U.S.-provided HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system could be used on targets in Crimea.
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Vadym Skibitskyi, an official at Ukrainian military intelligence, told Ukrainian media on Saturday that Russia has carried out strikes on Ukrainian territory from Crimea and the Black Sea, and so hitting targets on the peninsula would be justified.
Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet is headquartered in Sevastopol in Crimea.
