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Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s erstwhile president and premier minister, is backmost successful the limelight.
Last week, United States President Donald Trump warned him to “watch his words” and ordered a repositioning of 2 US atomic submarines successful effect to Medvedev’s online threats.
The repositioning person to Russia followed “highly provocative statements” from Medvedev, who serves arsenic lawman caput of Russia’s Security Council, Trump wrote connected his Truth Social web connected August 1.
“I person ordered 2 Nuclear Submarines to beryllium positioned successful the due regions, conscionable successful lawsuit these foolish and inflammatory statements are much than conscionable that,” Trump wrote, without specifying the regions oregon the submarines’ class.
Medvedev, who, contempt his title, has nary powerfulness to bid atomic strikes, retorted with a gloating remark.
“If immoderate words of Russia’s erstwhile president origin specified a tense effect from the oh-so-scary US president, it means that Russia is close astir everything and volition support going its ain way,” Medvedev wrote connected Telegram.
“Let [Trump] retrieve his favourite movies astir the Walking Dead [zombie apocalypse series] and astir however unsafe tin beryllium the ‘dead hand’ that doesn’t beryllium naturally,” Medvedev wrote.
The online feud began successful mid-July, erstwhile Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin, Medvedev’s brag and mentor for 3 decades, 50 days to marque a bid woody with Ukraine.
Medvedev called the ultimatum “theatrical” and said that “Russia didn’t care”.
‘Nuclear weapons are not Moscow’s monopoly’
According to a erstwhile Russian diplomat, portion Trump’s warnings nonstop a awesome to the Kremlin, the “noise” astir the submarines has nary subject significance.
“What matters acold much is that Trump’s words served arsenic a reminder – atomic weapons are not Moscow’s monopoly,” Boris Bondarev, who focused connected atomic non-proliferation and arms control, told Al Jazeera.
Medvedev’s comments bespeak Putin’s views – and Trump’s effect could instrumentality some down to the world of realpolitik, helium added.
“Had specified an attack been portion of a wide strategy to marque Putin’s presumption connected the satellite and his ain spot successful it much adequate, it would person been the opening of a existent extremity of the war” successful Ukraine, said Bondarev, who discontinue his overseas ministry occupation to protestation against Russia’s 2022 full-scale penetration of Ukraine.
“But it seems to maine that Donald conscionable uttered [his threat] and doesn’t mean thing serious,” helium said.
A pawn successful the US-China game
To a Ukrainian subject analyst, the Trump-Medvedev feud is portion of Moscow’s and Washington’s bigger governmental games.
“Putin uses Medvedev arsenic a instrumentality to explicit statements related to atomic weapons, helium doesn’t privation to discredit his ain bully peacekeeper’s name,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, erstwhile lawman caput of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said ironically.
In Moscow’s “media spectacle” with Washington, Medvedev plays the “bad cop”, Romanenko told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Trump’s bid to reposition the subs is simply a measurement to people a diplomatic triumph up of his acme with China’s Xi Jinping.
The acme whitethorn instrumentality spot connected September 3, erstwhile Beijing volition lavishly observe the 80th day of Japan’s surrender that ended World War II.
Putin has already been invited to oversee a subject parade successful Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, but Trump is inactive mulling his response.
The online feud whitethorn beryllium presented to Xi arsenic a triumph of sorts, Romanenko said – on with Moscow’s imaginable statement to an aerial and oversea ceasefire.
The statement volition beryllium forced by the dense harm Ukrainian drones inflicted connected Russia’s subject depots, transport infrastructure and lipid refineries, Romanenko said.
‘Playing the fool’
Trump whitethorn not realise that immoderate Russians spot Medvedev arsenic a governmental has-been whose online rants are reportedly fuelled by his worsening alcoholism.
He was elected Russia’s president successful 2008, aft Putin had completed 2 consecutive statesmanlike presumption and could not tally for a 3rd time.
The determination and the ensuing propaganda run to beforehand Medvedev’s candidacy were nicknamed a “castling” aft the chess term.
It instantly spawned governmental jokes that ridiculed the existent powerfulness dynamic betwixt Medvedev and Putin.
In 1 of them, Putin arrives astatine a edifice with Medvedev and orders a steak. The waiter asks, “And what astir the vegetable?” referring to the prime of a broadside dish. After a agelong look astatine Medvedev, Putin answers, “The rootlike volition person steak, too.”
However, Medvedev cultivated a idiosyncratic and governmental representation that contrasted with Putin’s.
He started utilizing societal networks, met with the stone bands U2 and Deep Purple, and began cautious reforms that made analysts speech astir a governmental thaw and a reset of Russia’s ties with the West.
However, Medvedev’s failed perestroika ended with elephantine rallies against Putin’s 2012 instrumentality to the presidency and monolithic ballot rigging.
The resulting tightening of governmental screws ended with Putin’s crook to belligerent nationalism and the warfare successful Ukraine.
Five years later, different question of fashionable protests passim Russia followed the merchandise of a documentary astir Medvedev’s luxurious, Monaco-sized palatial complex.
The documentary was made by the precocious absorption person Alexey Navalny‘s squad and got tens of millions of views connected YouTube.
At the time, arsenic Medvedev served arsenic premier minister, his support ratings kept waning.
In 2022, Putin unceremoniously sacked him – and gave him the Security Council job, a sinecure for demoted allies.
The autumn from Putin’s grace prompted Medvedev’s translation into an online troll who posts threats to Ukraine and different ex-Soviet nations and sabre-rattles Moscow’s atomic might. Many posts appeared online agelong aft midnight.
‘Degraded’
There are 3 viewpoints connected wherefore Medvedev changed his tune to go the Kremlin’s onslaught dog, according to Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University.
One is that aft not being allowed to tally for president for the 2nd clip successful 2012, Medvedev started drinking and “degraded to the existent state”, Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera.
The 2nd 1 is that by “playing fool”, helium repeats what Soviet person Nikita Khrushchev had done to past nether his ruthless predecessor Joseph Stalin to past and vie for the Kremlin throne aft his boss’s death, Mitrokhin said.
And the 3rd mentation Mitrokhin agrees with is that Medvedev “as a character, has ever been precise vile and warlike”.
But his aggression was lone constricted to what Putin allowed him to bash – specified arsenic nominally bid Russia’s 2008 warfare with ex-Soviet Georgia oregon beryllium successful complaint of supplying weaponry to pro-Moscow rebels successful southeastern Ukraine successful 2014.
Mitrokhin described him arsenic “a precise assertive tiny antheral with plentifulness of intelligence complexes – a Napoleon’s syndrome – who has a accidental to uncover his ‘inner self’. And helium does – with his master’s approval”.
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