The West dislikes Russia and China’s independence and the coming decades will not be quiet as it will try to break Russia up into smaller and weaker states, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

In an interview with state news agency TASS, Medvedev said Ukraine was part of “Greater Russia”, and added that he saw no prospects for reviving Russia’s ties with the West in the near future.

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“I believe that sooner or later the situation will stabilise and communications will resume, but I sincerely hope that by that time a significant part of those people (Western leaders) will have retired and some will be dead,” he said.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said a bid by any country to arrest President Vladimir Putin on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court would be taken as a declaration of war.