OREANDA-NEWS  Simple logic indicates that only a Russian victory in Ukraine would prevent a nuclear world war, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday, addressing calls from the West that Moscow must not be allowed to win.

“Follow the simple formal logic,” Medvedev argued on Telegram. “If Russia can’t win, then apparently Ukraine must. Ukraine’s war objective, as named by the Kiev regime, is the return of all territories previously belonging to it – that is, their separation from Russia.”

This, Medvedev explained, would qualify as a threat to the territorial integrity of Russia and therefore “a direct reason for applying Clause 19” of the Russian state doctrine on nuclear deterrence – referring to the circumstances in which the use of atomic weapons by Moscow would be warranted.

“So tell me, who is then pushing for nuclear war? What is this, if not directly provoking a world war with the use of atomic weapons? Let’s call things by their proper name,” Medvedev wrote. 

Medvedev currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. Before that, he was the Russian prime minister (2012-2020) and president (2008-2012). He has been outspoken on social networks since the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.