MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev believes that it might be required to get to Kiev for reaching the targets of the special military operation. He also warned in response to a question from TASS during a media session with Russian reporters about the geographic borders of the special military operation that the conflict might not be limited to the current stage.
"Where to stop? I don’t know. I think that considering what I have said [about the necessity to create a safety cordon] we will have to work much and hard. Will it be Kiev? Yes, it should probably be Kiev as well. If not now then some time later, probably during some other stage of this conflict’s development," Medvedev said.
The politician presented two arguments for the necessity to get to Kiev, saying that, first, this is a Russian city and, second, the international threat to Russia’s existence comes from there. "Though Kiev is a Russian city in its roots, it is managed by an international team of Russia’s opponents headed by the United States of America. All that formally perform functions there are figure-heads with neither conscience, nor fear for the future of their country, nor possibilities. All decisions are taken across the pond and in the NATO headquarters. This is absolutely obvious. This is why yes, it may be Kiev as well," he stressed.
Asked whether Ukraine should remain an independent state following the special military operation in general, Medvedev noted that "if as a result of all that is going on something remains of Ukraine such a state probably has chances to remain, though not very high." "In any case this is not a question of today, of course, but it will be on the agenda some time later," he said. "I don’t know what will remain in this territorial entity, I cannot call it a country now, maybe the Lemberg region, with a center in the city of Lemberg if the Polish or some other regions undertake for it. But this is a complicated process, not only military, but also political. And not only military forces, not only the military, but people inhabiting those lands as well should play or say their word in this process," he concluded.