Medvedev calls for Ukraine to split: ‘There is no other option’ ‘No one believes in victory anymore’

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and now deputy head of the Security Council, has been one of the Kremlin’s loudest exponents since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. On Thursday, the 57-year-old made headlines again – this time with his proposal on how he wants to ensure a stable peace in Europe.

It has long been clear to Medvedev: Ukraine as it exists now will not exist for long, he continues to say. The only question is how exactly Ukraine will collapse: step by step or within a short time. “There is no other way,” said the 57-year-old on his Telegram channel. Should the second scenario come true, Medvedev has concrete ideas about how that should work.

The politician made it clear that he believed peace could only come if Russia annexed most of Ukraine. For this purpose, the neighboring country could be divided into different administrative zones. At best, according to Medvedev, it would look like this: the EU should take over the western parts and Russia the eastern. The inhabitants of the central areas, on the other hand, should vote to join Russia.

Medvedev said this is the only outcome of the conflict “with sufficient guarantees that it will not resume in the long run”. If, on the other hand, part of Ukraine remains independent and joins NATO or the EU, there is a risk that the situation will escalate, “a permanent conflict with the danger of rapidly developing into a third world war”.

A third option, which Russia could be “at least temporarily satisfied with”, also envisages a complete partition of Ukraine between the EU and Russia, with a Ukrainian government-in-exile being formed in Europe. In the long term, however, there is also a “moderate” risk of a world war, Medvedev said.

Dmitry Medvedev served as President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and Prime Minister of the Russian Federation until 2020. He is considered a close confidant of Vladimir Putin and is his deputy in the presidency of the National Security Council. (dab)