Russia wants to supply 40 percent less gas through the Nord Stream pipeline. In addition, the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was taken from his current prison to an unknown location by Russian authorities. The US wants to support Ukraine with the construction of grain elevators.
Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev has questioned the continued existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state – and once again caused a stir. Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, wrote on Telegram on Wednesday that he had read that Ukraine wanted to conclude contracts for the supply of US liquefied gas for two years. Then he added: “Just one question: who said Ukraine would even be on the world map in two years?”
Medvedev was head of the Kremlin between 2008 and 2012 and was seen at the time, especially among young people, as a beacon of hope for a freer Russia. Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, however, he has been making contemptuous comments about the neighboring country. In Ukraine, his statements are seen as evidence that Moscow’s official war goal – the desired “liberation” of the Donbass – is just a pretext for the annihilation of the entire Ukrainian culture.
The Kremlin did not directly comment on Medvedev’s latest statements. When asked by journalists, spokesman Dmitry Peskov simply said: “We know that Ukraine has major problems.” The country continues to refuse to “bridle nationalist units” in its own ranks, Peskov continued. “And therefore, of course, this doesn’t bode well for Ukraine.”
All information on political developments and voices on the war can be found in our live ticker Political developments and voices on the war – military historian: If Russia continues to fight at this pace, “conquest of Ukraine will take 100 years”
