Russia's defeat in Ukraine could lead to nuclear war: Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev serves as the vice-chairman of Russian President Vladimir Putin's influential Security Council. He said, 'The defeat of a nuclear-capable Russia in a conventional war could trigger a nuclear war.'

Medvedev, who served as Russia's president from 2008 to 2012, said, 'Nuclear countries have never lost a major conflict. Because their fate depends on it.'

Medvedev said NATO and other Western defense leaders will meet Friday at Germany's Ramstein air base to discuss war tactics and support for Western efforts to defeat Russia in Ukraine. But they should also think about policy risks.

Up to now, the world's top two nuclear weapons holders, Russia and the United States, own about 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads. The ultimate decision-making power over Russia's use of nuclear weapons rests solely with President Vladimir Putin.

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Despite NATO's conventional military superiority over Russia, Moscow has more nuclear weapons than the European alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Russia's special military operation in Ukraine a struggle for existence against an aggressive and arrogant West. At the same time, he warned that Russia will use all its possible means to protect itself and the people of the country against any aggressive force.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year triggered one of the deadliest conflicts in Europe since World War II and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States and its allies have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an attempt at an imperialist land grab. And Ukraine has vowed to continue fighting until the last Russian soldier is expelled from its territory.

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