Threat of Russia-NATO clash never been so real since Cuban Missile Crisis: Ex-Russian president

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The threat of a direct clash between Moscow and NATO has never been so real since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.

“The (US President Joe) Biden administration is not new at all and has historical precedents. ‘Give money to our guy … otherwise we’ll have to start a war with the Russians.’ This is what various American presidents said at different times, extorting dollars from their legislators,” Medvedev said in a statement on Telegram.

Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said that the question today is different, expressing that Washington has never “extorted so much money for a minor state that is in the process of collapse,” in reference to Ukraine.

He also argued that the threat of a direct clash between Russia and NATO, which he said would lead to a Third World War, has never been so real since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

“This is a new phenomenon in American political discourse … They (the Biden administration) face the prospect of impeachment, which is unlikely, and losing the elections, which is very likely. Hence the boorish blackmail, continuous hysteria and wild hints directed at us,” Medvedev said.

He went on to argue that the Biden administration will eventually receive money in 2024 to “continue business during the war at any cost” which will result in more lives being lost, for which he said Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration would be responsible.