The refusal of Ukraine and NATO powers to recognize Moscow’s authority over Crimea represents a “systemic threat” for Russia, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said.
Russia claimed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Moscow president in Kyiv was toppled amid mass street protests. Moscow then also backed pro-Russian armed separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“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 told World War II veterans, the Interfax news agency reported.
“This is a direct and an explicit threat, especially given what had happened to Crimea. Crimea returned to Russia,” said Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.
His comments were aired a day after a Ukrainian official suggested that Crimea, which most of the world still recognizes as part of Ukraine, could be a target for American-made HIMARS missiles, recently deployed by Kyiv as it battles Russian forces.
Crimea is of particular strategic importance to Russia as it includes the headquarters of its Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol.
Source: CGTN EUROPE.