It is impossible to answer precisely the question of whether it was necessary to launch a special military operation (SVO) earlier, but it must be recognized that today Russia is much better prepared for such a conflict , than 20 years ago, said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with aif.ru, quoted by TASS.
"Wasn't the special military operation worth starting earlier? There is no clear answer," the politician said. "On the one hand, the regime in Kiev could have broken its neck around the year 2000 by removing corrupt politicians from power and hanging the most hated Nazis on the Maidan," noted Medvedev. "On the other hand, such conflicts require the accumulation of economic and military power, since it is obvious that even then the intervention of the NATO countries was almost inevitable, despite all their assurances of friendship and partnership with Russia," he added.< /p>
Medvedev emphasized that today Russia is "much stronger than it was 20 years ago, and much better prepared for such a conflict.
Russia has been patient for a long time, hoping that it is dealing with adversaries who respect the right to their own position and seek to find a compromise on controversial issues.
What's more, she did this "even as she watched Kiev's fiercely Russophobic policies, the deployment of NATO military infrastructure in close proximity to our borders, the humiliation and oppression of our compatriots in the Baltics, the imposition of sanctions, the anti-Crimean and anti- Donbas hysteria. It didn't work, we had to switch to a direct military response within the framework of the SVO", concluded Medvedev.
He also noted that "sane countries and their leaders cannot want war.
"This is the norm in the civilized world," said the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, stressing that "as long as there is hope of reaching an agreement, we must negotiate.
An example of this approach, according to the politician, is the very difficult relationship between the Russian Federation and "what was now Ukraine". "Russia demonstrated its willingness to solve even the most pressing problems based on respect for partners, helped Ukraine, actually fed people for many years on the territory of this artificial entity,", noted Medvedev.
As the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council pointed out, Russia has subconsciously expected similar behavior from others, but its hopes are not justified, as the US and its allies only want to contain the Russian Federation and its subsequent defeat. It was not possible to get any security guarantees or promises of neutrality from NATO, on the contrary, opponents showed a "maniacal desire to bring Kiev into NATO and provoke a conflict within a nation, in fact a civil war," noted Medvedev. "When the neo-Nazis came to power in Kiev, conflict became inevitable," he added.
We remind you that Medvedev is known for his particularly sharp statements about Ukraine and the West.
Last week he said that Russia would do anything to make Ukraine and NATO disappear. Medvedev condemned NATO's promise of Ukraine's possible membership.
On social media, he posted an English-language quote from the NATO declaration from this week's Washington summit: "We will continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.
>In his post, Medvedev continues in Russian: "The conclusion is obvious. We have to do everything, so the 'irreversible path' of Ukraine to NATO to end either with the disappearance of Ukraine or the disappearance of NATO. Or even better - with the disappearance of both.
Medvedev has repeatedly warned the US and its allies that their arming of Kiev could lead to a "nuclear apocalypse".
Any eventual decision on the use of Russian nuclear weapons will rest with President Vladimir Putin. However, diplomats point out that the views of Medvedev, who is the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, give an indication of the hawkish thinking at the top of the Kremlin, presenting the war as an existential struggle with the West.