#Medvedev warns the West: The #nuclear threat is not a hoax

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Moscow had the right to defend itself with nuclear weapons if its borders were crossed.

Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, added: This is certainly not a hoax, according to Reuters.

Medvedev also warned that Moscow had the right to respond "without much consultation" as tensions rose with the West over referendums held in swathes of Russian-controlled Ukraine.

Medvedev has periodically issued aggressive statements about the West and Ukraine in recent months, underscoring his transformation from a seemingly Western-oriented liberal as president between 2008 and 2012 to a hawkish geopolitical viewer.

 Medvedev's assertion that the "nuclear threat is not a hoax" is also in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said on Monday that he "does not believe" that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "deceptive" when he said Moscow would be willing to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. .

In a televised speech last week, Putin announced that Moscow would use "all available means" to protect Russia and its people if its territorial integrity was threatened.

"Look, maybe yesterday it was a hoax, now, it could be true," Zelensky, who previously downplayed such warnings as nuclear blackmail, told CBS News on Sunday.

It is noteworthy that the United States has warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine.