Medvedev threatened similar counter-sanctions in view of the freezing of funds of Russian citizens and companies decided by Western states.
(Photo: imago images/ITAR-TASS)
Moscow The Russian leadership is bringing an end to diplomatic relations with Western states into play. Actually, diplomatic relations with the West are no longer needed, said Vice Chairman of the National Security Council and former President, Dmitry Medvedev, on Saturday.
The sanctions of the EU and the US are a reason for Russia to withdraw from the dialogue on strategic nuclear stability and possibly from the treaty on the reduction of strategic arms (New Start) signed with Washington in 2010 and extended in 2021.
“We don’t necessarily need diplomatic relations… It’s time to close the embassies and continue contacts, looking at each other through binoculars and rifle sights,” wrote President Vladimir Putin’s confidante on his account in the Russian online Network VK. The Western sanctions would not throw the government off course, they would unite Russia. The military operations in Ukraine would continue until the goals of “demilitarization and denazification” defined by Putin were achieved.
“The sanctions are being imposed for one simple reason – political impotence resulting from the West’s inability to change Russia’s course,” Medvedev wrote. He also condemned the Council of Europe’s decision to suspend Russia’s membership as “unfair”. But this is a reason for Russia to “finally slam the door on this organization” and give Russia the opportunity to reintroduce the death penalty.
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Medvedev threatened similar counter-sanctions in view of the freezing of funds of Russian citizens and companies decided by Western states. The RIA news agency quoted him as saying that the reaction would be to confiscate funds from people and companies abroad.
The government also does not rule out nationalizing the assets of companies registered in the US, the European Union and other “unfriendly jurisdictions,” Medvedev was quoted as saying. The EU, the USA and Canada had announced that they would also target Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with new sanctions against Russia.
More: Read the current developments in the Ukraine war in our news blog.