Former President and incumbent Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev shared some self-described “inhumane” advice about how he believes the authorities should fight terrorism after Monday’s attack against the Crimean Bridge. It was originally published in Russian on Telegram here but can be read in whatever language one wants using Google Translate. Here’s the English version for the reader’s convenience:
“Our and the world’s experience shows that it is impossible to fight terrorists with international sanctions, intimidation, or exhortations. They only understand the language of power. Only personal and completely inhumane methods.
Therefore, it is necessary to blow up their own houses and the houses of their relatives. Look for and eliminate their accomplices, abandoning the insipid idea of a trial against them. But the main thing is to destroy the top leadership of terrorist formations, in whatever cracks these insects hide.”
It’s understandable that Medvedev is upset after what just happened, but President Putin is unlikely to listen to his advice. For starters, the Russian leader is a lawyer who deeply respects the law and recently reminded a war correspondent about this last month. As part of his answer to a question about the difference in regional payments to contract soldiers, he began by saying that “we are a country governed by the rule of law, unlike Ukraine. This is not a joke, this is not irony.”
Accordingly, there’s no way that he’d agree to extrajudicial methods for fighting terrorism, whether on Russian soil, Ukraine’s, or wherever else. Not only that, but the notion that he’d destroy their relatives’ homes shows that Medvedev obviously wasn’t thinking clearly when he wrote his message since President Putin is firmly opposed to collective punishment. After all, this concept fuels Russophobia, so it would be hypocritical to the core for Russia to now embrace it regardless of the reason.
As for the last part of Medvedev’s advice regarding the need to “destroy the top leadership of terrorist formations”, this thinly disguised suggestion to assassinate Zelensky will likely also be ignored by President Putin. The Russian leader reportedly promised former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in March 2022 not to harm his Ukrainian counterpart. He’s kept his word thus far, even after the drone attack against the Kremlin just two months ago, and there’s no reason to think that he changed his mind.
About that promise, while it can’t be known for sure why President Putin made it, one possibility is that he’s a true statesman who believes that there should be rules that both sides adhere to in any conflict. If that’s the case, then he’s impressively remaining committed to his principles in spite of his counterpart flagrantly flouting them, which shows his high level of self-control. The other possibility is that Zelensky is the proverbial devil that he knows and is thus preferable to any other for pragmatic reasons.
Whatever the explanation may be, some of President Putin’s supporters at home and especially among the Alt-Media Community feel very strongly that it’s time for him to take off the gloves and finally deliver a knockout punch to his country’s enemies, the sentiment of which spiked after the latest attack. They’ll therefore have a hard time accepting what his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later that day about how the Kremlin’s response will simply be to fulfill the goals of the special operation.
There might soon be a few more strikes than usual against Ukrainian military targets, but Zelensky’s assassination certainly isn’t in the cards, especially since that could doom the resumption of peace talks that are expected by year’s end as explained here and here. The so-called “turbo-patriots” as they’re popularly known nowadays in Russia won’t be happy, but they should respect President Putin’s reluctance to escalate if they’re true patriots, even if they still constructively critique him for it.
