Russian President Vladim (Image: Getty)
Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Vladimir Putin well-known for his inflammatory rhetoric, has outlined the conditions under which Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in another disturbing outburst. And he also launched a scathing attack on European leaders including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – as well as branding French President Emmanuel Macron a “degenerate freak”.
Medvedev, who is now Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, took to Telegram to comment on an unsubstantiated claim by Putin at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday that Kyiv was pondering the use of a so-called “dirty bomb”. The 59-year-old, a former Russian President himself, posted: “This would, of course, be an extremely dangerous provocation, which would have to be responded to proportionally. With what? With a clean bomb: tactical nuclear weapons.
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Dmitry Medvedev is well-known for his inflammatory rhetoric (Image: Getty)
“We have enough of them. This is the same mirror response that the Head of State spoke about. I will keep silent about the consequences for future life and the environment.
“But the sick perverts in Kiev … should have a good idea of it. Let them take a walk in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and watch a colourful TV series.”
Medvedev also claimed the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran “obviously does not harm our affairs”.
He claimed: “Most Americans do not even know where the dying Ukraine is, and Trump’s team, which is not at all eager to spend money on a conflict that is alien to them, is now very tense. This is a different matter – our native Israel. Well, now let them deal with their favourite brainchild.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was mocked by Dmitry Medvedev (Image: Getty)
“There is only one obvious danger – the Middle East conflict turning into a global one, which, by the way, Trump himself constantly talks about. And here the USA, Israel and Iran should pray fervently according to the holy books of all Abrahamic religions.”
Referring to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he added: “I won’t even mention Europe – there is nothing sacred left there. Their destiny is a freak show like the Paris Olympics, in which degenerate freaks like Macron and other Ursulas with Starmers participate.”
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has repeatedly invoked the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons, both as a tool of deterrence and as a means of psychological warfare.
“Its official military doctrine allows the use of nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or if the existence of the state is threatened by conventional means.
French President Emmanuel Macron also came in for caustic criticism (Image: Getty)
President Vladimir Putin has on several occasions reinforced this position. In September 2022, during a televised address announcing a partial mobilisation, he warned: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all means at our disposal to defend Russia and our people. This is not a bluff.”
He has reiterated that the Kremlin would consider nuclear weapons only as a response to a genuine threat, but has refused to rule out their use entirely.
In 2023, Mr Putin claimed that Russia had begun moving tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, saying it was a response to Western “escalation.” He insisted the move did not breach non-proliferation agreements, but the announcement was widely interpreted as a signal to NATO.
Moscow has also repeatedly accused Ukraine of plotting to use a “dirty bomb”—a conventional explosive device containing radioactive material.
These allegations, made publicly by Russian defence officials in October 2022, were strongly denied by Ukraine. Western intelligence services dismissed them as baseless.
At the time, Ukraine invited international inspectors to visit its nuclear sites to verify that no such device was being developed. Then Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov warned that Russia was attempting to create a pretext for escalation, though he stopped short of accusing Moscow of staging such an event directly.
The Institute for the Study of War and other observers flagged the possibility that Russian security services could be preparing a false flag operation, possibly involving radioactive material, as a way to justify the use of tactical nuclear weapons or to spread panic.
Medvedev’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric, including recent remarks describing a “mirror” response, has further raised concerns that Moscow may be deliberately muddying the line between deterrence and preparation.