Medvedev says construction of tank factory in Ukraine to be marked with 'firework of Kalibr' missiles

MOSCOW

Deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that if the German Rheinmetall company decides to build a tank factory in Ukraine, the event will be met with "firework of Kalibr" missiles.

"Report about construction of Rheinmetall tank factory in Malorossiya (geographical and historical term used to describe territories that mostly part of today's Ukraine) looks like primitive trolling of the Kyiv regime. If Fritzs (pejorative term used for Germans) decide to build in earnest -- although they are pragmatic kind of people -- we will be looking forward to it. This event will duly be marked with firework of Kalibr and other pyrotechnic devices," said the ex-president on Telegram.

On Feb. 9, Rheinmetall head Armin Papperger told the German daily Handelsblatt that the company will be "ready to install a facility in Ukraine for assembling the Panther (tanks) once the war ends," as long as the German government approves the necessary export licenses.