Medvedev asserts that the whole of Ukraine belongs to Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, the previous Russian leader, remains a cause for concern in the West and Ukraine with his threatening words and actions. His most recent message, while void of language, still implies the Kremlin's destructive intent.
Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-leader of the Kremlin and current vice chairman of the National Security Council, has labelled the entire Ukraine as Russian territory on a map for Russian National Day. Via Telegram, he shared an animated graphic: As the Russian anthem played, the white-blue-red flag waved, and the entire Ukraine, extending to the borders of Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, was marked as Russian. Belarus, a close ally, was excluded.
For over two years, Moscow's stance on Ukraine has been variable in terms of official or propagandistic statements indicating how much of Ukraine Russia wants to control. Ukraine has been an independent state since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. The illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia took place in 2014, and a secretive subversion effort in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, followed. Just before the large-scale attack in February 2022, the Kremlin's leader, Vladimir Putin, denied Ukraine's legitimacy. When Russia's military was defeated in Kiev and pulled its soldiers back, it declared that it would now concentrate its assaults on the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine while insisting it never intended to seize Kiev.
From a liberal beacon to a provocateur
Since then, a stated goal of the Kremlin has been that Russia aims to wholly subjugate the four Ukrainian territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which it has proclaimed annexed. Furthermore, considerations were made for Kharkiv in the east and the southern port city of Odessa, and even the capital Kyiv was not ruled out. In April, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that at most, the future of western Ukraine around Lviv remained uncertain.
Medvedev was seen as a symbol of hope for liberal Russia when he served as president from 2008 to 2012 in the West. The 58-year-old, who is now vice chairman of the National Security Council, has since become one of the most hardline figures and defends the war through provocative social media posts.
On June 12, 1990, the Russian Soviet parliament opted for state sovereignty, marking a considerable step towards independence from the crumbling Soviet Union. This day is, therefore, annually commemorated as Russia Day.
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Despite Medvedev's assertion that Ukraine belongs to Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian government continue to resist any territorial claims from Russia. The attack on Ukraine by Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, has brought tension and conflict to the region, with Kiev being a major target. The Kremlin's actions in Crimea, annexed in 2014, and in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, are seen as violations of international law. Dmitry Medvedev's defiant posts on social media further fuel tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Despite Putin's denials, Russia's military presence and actions in Ukraine continue to raise concerns in the international community.
