New warning to the West, that if it gives nuclear weapons to Ukraine, the Russia could consider it as a transfer equivalent to an attack against it and would therefore have grounds for a preemptive nuclear response, the country’s former president and senior security official Dmitry Medvedev.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Western officials, whom it did not name, suggested that the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons, though there are fears that a step of this kind would have serious repercussions.

“American politicians and journalists are seriously discussing the consequences of transferring nuclear weapons to Kiev,” Medvedev noted in a Telegram post.

“The actual transfer of such weapons can be equated with the fait accompli of an attack on our country” under Russia’s recently revised nuclear doctrine, the Russian senior security official concluded.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated today that NATO has stopped pretending, declaring the possibility of preventive strikes against Russia, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.