Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday threatened retribution against the editors of Britain’s The Times newspaper for calling the assassination of a Russian general “legitimate.”
The Times said in an editorial Tuesday that the targeted killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian army’s chemical weapons division, in an explosion in Moscow was a “legitimate act of defense by a threatened nation.”
On his personal Telegram channel, Medvedev referred to the “lousy jackals from The Times who cowardly hid behind an editorial” as “accomplices of those who perpetrated crimes against Russia.”
“Makes sense! In that regard, be careful! Because a lot of things happen in London,” Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president between 2008 and 2012, wrote.
The ominous threat appears to be a veiled reference to the 2006 radiation poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London. The European Court of Human Rights found Russia responsible for Litvinenko’s assassination more than a decade later.
Medvedev said that under his “logic,” the “legion” of officials from NATO countries providing military aid to Ukraine are “legitimate military targets” for both the Russian army and any “patriots of Russia.”
Medvedev has a limited role in the Russian political system and is now mostly known for his anti-West diatribes on social media.
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