Russia's Ex-President Medvedev Threatens Poland with 'radioactive Ash'

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened Poland with the prospect of "radioactive ash" in response to remarks on the use of nuclear weapons from Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski over the weekend.

Sikorski had earlier told British newspaper The Guardian how the US would purportedly react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

"The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn't kill anybody, we will hit all your targets (positions) in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we'll destroy all of them," Sikorski told the paper.

Medvedev responded on the social network X by saying that the US had said nothing of the sort since "they are more cautious".

"Americans hitting our targets means starting a world war, and a foreign minister, even of a country like Poland should understand that," the deputy head of the Russian Security Council wrote on Sunday.

Polish President Andrzej Duda had asked for tactical nuclear weapons from the US to be stationed in Poland, Medvedev said. "Warsaw won't be left out, and will surely get its share of radioactive ash. Is it what you really want?" Medvedev added.

Duda had said in April that Poland, one of Ukraine's strongest supporters, was prepared to accept NATO nuclear weapons as a counterweight to the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Medvedev, during his time as president from 2008 to 2012, had been considered a key figure in liberal Russian policy. However since the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has become one of the biggest hardliners and routinely defends the war with inflammatory posts on social networks.

Sikorski's comments are likely to relate to events of late 2022. US media have repeatedly reported that the leadership in Washington had the impression at the time that Moscow could be preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

At that time, the Kremlin had reportedly been made to understand that the US would not respond with nuclear weapons, but with other powerful means.