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Moscow would launch nuclear weapons at Washington and other Western capitals if compelled to relinquish Ukrainian territory it has annexed, Dmitry Medvedev, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, cautioned in a report<\/a> by the Daily Mail on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cAttempts to return Russia to the borders of 1991 [when the Soviet Union collapsed] will lead to only one thing: towards a global war with Western countries using the entire strategic arsenal of our state \u2014 in Kyiv [Ukraine], Berlin, London, Washington,\u201d asserted Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of the Russian security council, responsible for directing the war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n He stressed that the response is \u201cobvious\u201d if Russia is questioned about its resolve \u201cif the disappearance of a thousand-year-old country, our great Motherland, is at stake, and the sacrifices made by the people of Russia over the centuries will be in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n Medvedev underlined that \u201cthe West should not think that in such a scenario the leadership of Russia will \u2018tremble in its hand\u2019 in pushing the nuclear button.\u201d<\/p>\n Formerly Russia\u2019s president from 2008 to 2012, Medvedev emphasized that \u201cit\u2019s better to return everything [to us] before it\u2019s too late. Or we will return it ourselves with maximum losses for the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n He also criticized \u201csnotty Anglo-American fosterlings\u201d opposing Putin\u2019s governance, labeling British and German defense ministers Grant Shapps and Boris Pistorius as \u201ca**holes\u201d who believe the world cannot afford for Russia to defeat Ukraine.<\/p>\n Medvedev cautioned that if Shapps and Pistorius had their way, there would be a \u201cdirect and irreversible collapse of present-day Russia,\u201d including the territories in Ukraine that the Kremlin has seized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n