Russia has 'right to war' with 'each and every' NATO country - Medvedev

Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday Russia has the right to go to war with NATO. 

Writing on Twitter, now X, he said: "Ukrainian criminals have announced that any strikes of theirs against whatever Russian target, “for example, in Crimea” were approved by NATO."

"If it is true – and there is no reason to doubt it is – then, this is a direct legally significant proof of the West’s complicity in the war against Russia. It is a refined casus belli, and for Russia, it is an opportunity to act within the jus ad bellum framework against each and every NATO country."

Part of just war theory, which was first developed in ancient Greece and is still used by some Christians today, casus belli is an act or situation that morally justifies conflict, with jus ad bellum referring to conditions under which a state can resort to war. 

Ukrainian forces have repeatedly attacked Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, in a bid to liberate the Black Sea peninsula. Western capitals provided Kyiv with weaponry and equipment after Russia invaded in February 2022, though it is unclear if they are providing more direct military assistance.

The former Russian Prime Minister - widely seen as a stopgap for Vladimir Putin -  has often taken to social media to write provocative and inflammatory statements about the Ukraine war and its Western allies. 

In Tuesday's tweet, Medvedev warned "apocalypse" was "drawing nearer", quoting biblical verse and old Soviet leaders. 

These included: “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them,” from Revelation 9:6, the final book of the New Testament in the bible.  

He then added: “We are remembered until we stand in the others’ way,”