Medvedev: Russia may have to push back Poland's border for 'peace'

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, stated on a Telegram post that the only way to secure lasting peace with Ukraine is to push the border of hostile countries as far as Poland, if necessary.

Medvedev is no ordinary politician. He was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and Prime Minister from 2012 to 2020, alternating posts with Vladimir Putin.

Many experts see Medvedev as a possible successor to Vladimir Putin.

Al-Jazeera reported that the former Russian President and close Putin ally made the remarks the day after the one-year anniversary of the Ukrainian invasion.

“Victory will be achieved. We all want it to happen as soon as possible. And that day will come,” said Medvedev, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

The former Russian President predicted some sort of agreement with the Western powers but that any European security pact wouldn’t be based on “fundamental agreements on real borders”.

Medvedev argues that, therefore, it’s necessary for Russia to expand its borders to the West.

“To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland,” Putin’s close ally stated.

Currently, Russia’s only border with Poland is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) surrounding the Kaliningrad exclave.

However, some German news outlets have reported Moscow’s intention to form some sort of Union with Belarus by 2030.

Belarus so far has been Russia’s biggest ally in the Ukraine invasion, but this brings up the question of how much power Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is willing to give to the Kremlin.

Some even believe that Putin is looking to restore, in some way, the former borders of the Soviet Union.

However, more realistic experts affirm that the Kremlin is seeking to secure a Moscow-controlled buffer zone between Russia and NATO countries, such as Poland.

Any encroachment of NATO territory would put Russia and its allies into direct, unavoidable conflict with the West.

US President Joe Biden, Al Jazeera highlighted, has promised to defend “every inch” of NATO territory from any Russian offensive.

Meanwhile, Medvedev affirmed that if the United States and other NATO nations continue to provide weapons to Ukraine, it would provoke an “apocalypse”.