US sanctions merit Russian 'military deterrence', Medvedev says

MOSCOW: Russia’s response to new US sanctions should involve “military deterrence”, the country’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.

Medvedev, a senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of Moscow’s most prominent anti-Western hawks, did not elaborate on his remarks.

US President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday introducing new sanctions designed to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine, after Congress gave its approval following months of delay.

The legislation, named after the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, takes aim at Russia’s energy and defence sectors alongside Putin and other senior officials.

“Even across the ocean, they hear only the language of direct military deterrence, and that is the language in which we should respond to Russophobic atrocities, such as the law of the dead terrorist, Graham,” Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said on Telegram.

Since Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022, Russian officials including Putin have described Ukraine and its supporters as “terrorists”, accusations dismissed by Kyiv as baseless wartime propaganda.

Medvedev served as Russia’s head of state between 2008 and 2012 in an arrangement that allowed then-prime minister Putin to circumvent term limits.

The 61-year-old regularly attacks Ukraine and the West on social media, tirades his critics say are an attempt to retain political relevance but that others suggest reflect senior Russian thinking.

Last year, Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved after Medvedev alluded to Moscow’s semi-automatic “Dead Hand” nuclear arms control system in a Telegram post.