MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian official warned on Saturday that Moscow would respond to Western sanctions by bypassing the latest deal with the United States on nuclear weapons, cutting diplomatic ties with Western countries and freezing their assets. could. The statement by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, comes as Russia’s relations with the West plummeted to a new level due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Medvedev also warned that Moscow could reinstate the death penalty after Russia was expelled from Europe’s leading human rights group.
Western sanctions imposed new sanctions on Russian financial operations, including tougher restrictions on technology exports to Russia and freezing the assets of Putin and his foreign minister. The harsh response has overshadowed previous Western sanctions. Washington and its allies said more stringent sanctions are possible, such as Russia’s expulsion from SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
In sarcastic comments posted on a Russian social forum, Medvedev dismissed the sanctions as a show of Western “political impotence”, saying they would only strengthen the Russian leadership and promote anti-Western sentiments.
“We are being expelled, punished and threatened everywhere, but we are not afraid,” he said, mocking the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, recounting his past. Said as an attempt to make a “shameful decision, such as a cowardly comeback”. Afghanistan.”
Medvedev was the Acting President of Russia from 2008–2012, when now-President Vladimir Putin had to be replaced as Prime Minister due to term limits. Putin later achieved the presidency and Medvedev served as their prime minister for eight years.
Medvedev insisted that Western sanctions provide a trigger for the Kremlin to completely change its relationship with the West, hinting that Russia may pull out of the new START nuclear arms control treaty, which the United States may and limits Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
The treaty, which Medvedev signed with then-U.S. President Barack Obama in 2010, limits each country to no more than 1,550 nuclear weapons and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and requires the general public to verify compliance. Provides on-site inspection.
The treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, was due to expire in February 2021, but was extended by Moscow and Washington for another five years.
