Russian Official Says Ukraine NATO Proposal Backs Moscow's Claim on Crimea

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, on Sunday argued a proposal suggested by a former NATO official that Ukraine be admitted to the alliance without Crimea or Donbas proves the territories belong to Moscow.

Medvedev, who also served as Russia's president from 2008-2012, made the comments in a post on his Telegram channel while also stating he does not believe Ukraine to be a legitimate country worthy of admission into NATO.

Regarding the disputed territories, Medvedev was seemingly responding to a suggestion made by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday. Rasmussen had floated the possibility of Ukraine joining the military bloc in the near future but only for territories it currently controls and not Russian-occupied regions.

Rasmussen's argument was that Ukraine's NATO bid has been held up by the alliance's Article 5 clause, which states all NATO allies must come to the defense of any member attacked. Since Russia holds control of portions of the Donbas—as well as all of Crimea since its annexation of the peninsula in 2014—Rasmussen said Article 5 would automatically be triggered if all of Ukraine joined NATO now.

The former NATO chief, however, was not saying Ukraine should cede those territories, and he emphasized that allowing Ukraine to join now with part of its land "would deter Russia from mounting attacks inside the Ukrainian territory inside NATO and so free up Ukrainian forces to go to the frontline."

Medvedev said in his Telegram message that a proposal of partial NATO membership amounted to an admission about what land Russia can claim as its own.

"These territories are definitely no longer Ukraine in their understanding," Medvedev wrote, singling out Crimea and Donbas. "Not bad, but it's important to move on. We must admit that Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kyiv and practically everything else is not Ukraine at all."

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment Monday.

He continued: "[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, who does not go to the polls, is NOT the president, but a usurper. The Ukrainian language is NOT a language, but a surzhyk [mixed language]. Ukraine is NOT a country, but artificially collected territories."

Medvedev concluded his message by sarcastically suggesting NATO expand the criteria for membership.

"Invite Israel there along with Palestine, turning eternal enemies into allies," he said.

The controversial statements are not unusual for Medvedev, who has become one of the most prominent public voices in the Kremlin on matters related to the war Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine in February 2022.

Other examples of his provocative rhetoric include calling Ukraine's Western allies "legitimate military targets" in December 2022 and saying in September that Russia is prepared to engage in direct conflict with NATO member states.

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