Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claimed Russia would don't have any alternative however to deploy nuclear weapons if the Ukrainian counter-offensive was profitable.

Mr Medvedev, who's deputy chair of Russia's safety council, seemingly took to his social media accounts to rejoice Russia's Navy Day.

In a protracted message on Twitter, the chief of the ruling United Russia get together claimed that the Russian Army is not simply defending its nation's residents by combating Kyiv's counter-offensive in occupied Ukraine.

He wrote on Twitter: "By repelling the collective enemy’s counteroffensive, our Armed Forces are defending Russian citizens and our land. It is quite clear to all decent people. Besides that, they are preventing global conflict."

Describing the counter-offensive, launched in early June by Kyiv, as "NATO-supported", Mr Medvedev stated that, ought to this manoeuvre achieve success, "and they took away a part of our land", Russia "would have to, following the President’s degree of 02.06.2020, use the nuclear weapon".

The politician referred to the nuclear deterrent coverage signed off by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2020, which permits the Kremlin to make use of atomic weapons ought to its key authorities or navy infrastructure be attacked even by way of using typical weapons.

While mentioning "our land", the previous president gave the impression to be talking in regards to the 4 Ukrainian territories Russia unilaterally annexed in September 2022 - the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia areas, the main focus of the counter-offensive.

In 2014, Russia had already annexed Crimea from Ukraine - whose bridge linking the peninsula to mainland Russia, Kerch Bridge, was recently struck by a missile believed to have been fired by Ukraine.

Chillingly, Mr Medvedev added: "There would simply be no other way out. That’s why our enemies must worship our warriors. They are keeping global nuclear fire from flaring up."

Issuing one more warning to "enemies" of Russia, Mr Medvedev stated: "PS: The unmanned underwater vehicle Poseidon sends its greetings and recommends the enemies of our country to pray for all the Russian marines’ health."

Mr Medvedev, who was Russia's president between 2008 and 2012 earlier than taking over the submit of Prime Minister for the next eight years, referred to the nation's next-generation Poseidon torpedo, which Moscow was reportedly successful in testing earlier this month.

This is not the primary time the previous Russian chief talked about the spectre of nuclear warfare.

At the start of July, he claimed a nuclear "apocalypse" involving Russia and the West wasn't potential however quite "quite probable".

In an op-ed for the Kremlin-backed Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, Mr Medvedev additionally claimed that Western "opponents" set on the "defeat" of Russia have created the present hostile setting - regardless of Moscow launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine final 12 months.