ISTANBUL

Comment made by Ukraine's presidential adviser on an “absolute consensus” to conduct strikes against “everything Russian” in Crimea is evidence of the West’s “complicity” in the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia’s former president said on Tuesday.

Dmitry Medvedev, who currently is the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said in a statement on Telegram that there is “no reason to doubt now” the West’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war on the side of Kyiv.

This “absolute consensus” is “direct legally-significant evidence” of the West’s complicity, he added.

“A refined casus belli, and for Russia the opportunity to act within the framework of jus ad bellum against everyone and everyone in the NATO countries,” Medvedev said, adding: “It's sad, alas. The predictions of the apocalypse are getting closer.”

Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Mykhailo Podolyak’s comment is “not a secret,” adding that this is why Moscow calls such policies “Russophobia” and defines Western countries as “unfriendly regimes.”

On Monday, Podolyak said in an interview on Ukraine’s parliamentary TV channel Rada that there is an “absolute consensus” that the country can “destroy everything Russian, for example, in the Crimea.”

“Let me remind you that a year ago, even when there were some strikes against Crimea, everyone said 'No, no. Let's go without it.' Today, there is an absolute consensus equivalent to the number of countries supporting us that we can destroy everything Russian on the occupied territory,” Podolyak said.​​​​​​​