Russian boss ‘should go easy’ on the vodka

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister

Dmytro Kuleba has hit out at Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, who recently called for the killing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he shouldn’t drink and post on social media, “Medvedev should drink less vodka before going on Telegram,” Kuleba said in an interview with German outlet Bild.

Medvedev, who is now the deputy head of the Russian Security Council — directly under Russian President Vladimir Putin — has “a certain role in the nature of Russia’s strategic communications,” Kuleba said.

The former Russian president, who also previously served as prime minister, regularly makes controversial comments on foreign policy and the war in Ukraine on social media. Critics say his posts are part of an attempt to retain some political significance while appearing more radical than Putin, thereby legiti - mising the current Russian president’s decisions.

Following an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin last week, Medvedev said there were “no options left other than the physical elimination of Zelenskyy and his clique,” in a message posted on his Telegram channel. (Russia claims that Ukraine is responsible for the attack, which Kyiv has denied.)

In March, after the International Criminal Court issued an international arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes, Medvedev said the Hague-based court was a “miserable international organisation” and suggested Russia could bomb it.

An eventual arrest of the Russian president, he added a few days later, would be a “declaration of war.”

For example, if Putin was arrested whilst visiting Germany, Medvedev said, “all [of Russia’s] assets — all our missiles etc. — would fly to the Bundestag, to the chancellor’s office.”