(Reuters) – Any incursion into the Crimean peninsula by a NATO member state could amount to a declaration of war on Russia that could lead to “World War III”, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.
“For us, Crimea is part of Russia. And that means forever. Any attempt to invade Crimea is a declaration of war against our country,” Medvedev told news website Argumenty i Fakty.
“And if this is done by a NATO member state, that means conflict with the entire North Atlantic alliance; a Third World War. A complete catastrophe.”
Medvedev, now vice president of Russia’s Security Council, also said that if Finland and Sweden join NATO, Russia will strengthen its borders and be “ready for retaliatory measures”, and that could include the prospect of installing Iskander hypersonic missiles “on its threshold”.
(Reporting by Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne)
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