Former Russian leader Medvedev calls for return of USSR in rambling nationalist post

‘Rus will once again become united, mighty, and invincible, like it was a thousand years ago,’ he wrote

Dmitry Medvedev (via REUTERS)

He was once seen as one of the faces of modern, progressive Russia.

But those days are long gone, and if there was any doubt, then they would have been banished by Dmitry Medvdev’s latest comments.

The former Russian president posted a rambling tirade of nationalist ideals online, saying “all the peoples inhabiting the once great and might USSR” will live together once again.

Dmitry Medvdev’s inflammatory claims were posted on his Facebook page, but were quickly taken down. Officials later claimed his account had been hacked.

The lenghthy message made wild assertions such as claiming that Kazakhstan and Georgia are “artificial governments”.

Ilya Lozovsky, senior editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, posted a series of tweets in which he did a “quick” translation of the former Russian president’s post.

The writer tweeted that “Russian social networks are all joking that it was a drunk post. But who knows?”

He translated the now deleted post as follows: “No one should have any doubt that the deadly mistake that took place in the early 90s will be corrected. Тhere will never again be any parade of sovereignties [a reference to Soviet republics pushing for autonomy in the late 80s-early 90s]...

“After the liberation of Kiev and all the territories of Malorossia from the band of nationalists, who are preaching a Ukrainian-ness they invented, Rus will once again become united, mighty, and invincible, like it was a thousand years ago...”

He continued: “All the lands taken from us were covered in the blood of our ancestors and conquered in many battles over centuries. And we won’t give them up to anyone.”

“Kazahkstan is an artificial government, [consisting of] former Russian territories. For example the cities of Guriev and Semipalatinsk. Even Alma-Ata until 1924 was called Verniy.

“In the current century, the Kazakh authorities have begun to realize initiatives to resettle various ethnic groups within the republic, which can be described as a genocide of Russians. And we won’t close our eyes to this. Until the Russians come there, there will be no order.”

The remarks might be dismissed as the typical rantings of a provocative Russian TV host, but instead they come from someone who helped run the country as president between 2008 and 2012 and as prime minister between 2012 and 2020, and is close to Vladimir Putin.

The 56-year-old, when in power, was seen as someone who might produce a more liberal Russia as it moved from the fall of the USSR at the end of the Twentieth Century.

When he took the reins, from Mr Putin, in 2008 he said his main aims were to “protect civil and economic freedoms” and spoke about modern development.

In the West he was feted, and even received an iPhone from Steve Jobs on a trip to the United States in 2010.

He was visiting Silicon Valley at the time, seemingly another sign that he was taking Russia into a new direction.

But such hopes have long gone.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Medvedev has been on one of the most vociferous supporters of the war, and one of the strongest critics of the West.

He recently wrote that: “I hate them. They are bastards and degenerates. They want us, Russia, to die. And while I’m still alive, I will do everything to make them disappear.”

Mr Medvedev did not explain who the “they” were, but the West or Ukraine must have been high on the list.

Last month he again took aim at his opponents.

n this file photo taken on May 7, 2018 Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin shakes hands with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as Dmitry Medvedev stands nearby (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

He said the US could face the “wrath of God” if it pursued efforts to help establish an international tribunal to investigate Russia‘s action in Ukraine, amid allegations of war crimes.

He also made an apparent threat and urged Washington to remember that Alaska used to belong to Russia.

He also denounced America for what he described as its efforts to “spread chaos and destruction across the world for the sake of ‘true democracy.’”

“The entire U.S. history since the times of subjugation of the native Indian population represents a series of bloody wars,” he said on his Telegram channel.

For good measure he also called Americans the “rotten dogs of war”.