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Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin (archive)
Photo: SERGEI KARPUKHIN/ REUTERS
Vladimir Putin can count on Dmitry Medvedev.
The deputy head of the Russian Security Council has launched a massive attack on the United States.
He accuses Joe Biden's government of destructive plans to destabilize Russia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became the target of a "primitive game" by the Americans, the former president and head of government wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
Russia should be "humiliated, limited, shaken, divided and destroyed".
"And now let's imagine America succeeding in this round of confrontation," Medvedev continued.
"Here is the result: the largest nuclear power with an unstable political leadership, a collapsed economy and a maximum number of nuclear warheads aimed at targets in the US and Europe."
The next thing the US would target was China, Medvedev predicted.
"And then it's only a few steps to the worst global catastrophe, to the energy and food collapse, to the failure of all collective security systems and after a short time to the big nuclear bang (...)."
Russian-US relations are at a low ebb because of Russia's war in Ukraine.
The US – like the EU and other countries – has imposed far-reaching sanctions on Moscow.
US President Biden recently called Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and a "murderous dictator".
US accuses Kremlin of war crimes
The United States has even accused Russian troops of war crimes in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had come to this conclusion after carefully examining publicly available information and intelligence findings.
Those responsible should be held accountable, and the United States is committed to this.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced the expulsion of several US diplomats on Wednesday evening.
A list of the names of the US diplomats who had been declared undesirable had been handed over to the head of the US mission, who had been summoned to the State Department, the ministry said in Moscow.
It was a reaction to the expulsion of 12 Russian diplomats from the UN in New York.
dop/dpa