Russia warns it could 'accidentally' start a nuclear war as 'impotent' western leaders miscalculate the risk of World War Three - days after threatening to nuke London and Washington if it loses in Ukraine

• Pro-war ex-president has stepped up rhetoric urging imminent nuclear threat
• He added that Russia was still aiming to take Kyiv, where it would ‘probably’ stop 

A close Vladimir Putin aide and former president today warned the West that Russia is capable of starting nuclear war by accident.

Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of Putin’s security council, told ‘impotent’ Western leaders they are miscalculating the risk of nuclear war both as a deliberate decision by Putin – and a terrifying accident.

‘This very clock, which is ticking in a certain direction, has now accelerated very much,’ Medvedev warned, gesturing towards the ‘clear threat to all of humanity’. ‘And in this I also see the inability, excuse me, the impotence of these Western authorities.’

‘[They] keep saying the same thing: “No, it’s the Russians who are scaring us, they will never do it”. They’re wrong.’

It comes just days after the ex-president threatened Russia could nuke the UK, US, Ukraine and its backers if Russia is forced to concede occupied territories.

‘Attempts to restore Russia’s 1991 borders will lead only to one thing – a global war with Western countries with the use of our entire strategic (nuclear) arsenal against Kyiv, Berlin, London, and Washington.

‘And against all other beautiful historic places that have long been included in the flight targets of our nuclear triad,’ he said on Sunday, referring to Russia’s range of nuclear weapons.

Medvedev reaffirmed threats Russia would be willing to resort to nuclear warfare if needed

‘They’re wrong,’ Medvedev said in today’s address, rebuffing allegations of empty threats

The former president has repeated threats warning Russia could use nukes if cornered

One of Russia’s most aggressive pro-war commentators, critics say Medvedev’s threats are empty.

But recent rhetoric has stressed how ready Russia could be to use nuclear weapons if cornered and facing the loss of occupied territories.

READ MORE: Kremlin threatens to unleash Armageddon on the West if it loses in Ukraine: Moscow warns it will fire nuclear missiles on London, Washington, Berlin and Kyiv if Russia is forced to give up territory

‘Sad as it may sound, this [nuclear war] scenario is real,’ said the outspoken Putin lackey in his most recent address. ‘We must do everything we can to prevent it from happening.’

‘If it comes to the existence of our country, and I said this recently, what choice is left for the [Russian] leadership, for the head of state?’ he went on.

He added, unequivocally: ‘So this is, unfortunately, a real threat, a direct and clear threat to all of humanity.

‘And secondly, there are also accidents, from which no one is immune. And the accidental, unintentional start of a nuclear conflict cannot be discounted.

‘So all these games around Ukraine are extremely dangerous.’

Over the weekend, the former president – who served from 2008 to 2012 – suggested London and other Western capitals could be destroyed if Russia loses the war.

He asked rhetorically: ‘Will we have the courage to do this if the disappearance of a thousand-year-old country, our great Motherland, is at stake, and the sacrifices made by the people of Russia over the centuries will be in vain? The answer is obvious.’

He suggested at the time Kyiv and the West should allow Putin to have the bits of Ukraine he thinks of as Russia.

In his address today, Medvedev claimed the Kremlin still aims to seize Ukrainian capital Kyiv, but it may be in a later stage of the conflict.

‘Where to stop? I don’t know. I think that given what I said, we will still have to work hard and seriously.

‘Will it be Kyiv? Yes, probably it should be Kyiv.

‘If not now, then in some time, maybe in some other phase of the development of this conflict.

‘For two reasons: Kyiv is a Russian city, and there is a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation from there.

He added that invaded Ukrainians who oppose Putin’s iron rule will be sent to Siberia for ‘reeducation’ in a return of the sinister Stalinist GULAG camps.

‘Residents of new regions who ‘harm Russia’ need to be punished’ he said, outlining a Stalinist method to break their opposition.

‘They need to be sent to Siberia for re-education in forced labour camps.’

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is test-fired as part of Russia’s nuclear drills from a launch site in Plesetsk on October 26, 2022

The former president was unequivocal in warning the West of the real threat Russia poses

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Kremlin’s powerful security council. Undated

He spoke less than a week of leading Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny was allegedly ‘murdered’ in an Arctic penal colony in Siberia after apparently collapsing from a walk on February 16.

The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

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