Former Russian President Medvedev is known for his verbal outbursts - now he has found a new reason for inciting hatred against the West and Ukraine. Because of the rejected ceasefire, he also hands out against the German foreign minister.
After Kiev's rejection of the ceasefire ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for the Orthodox Christmas, Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev insulted the Ukrainian politicians. "Pigs have no faith or an innate feeling of gratitude. They only understand brute force and squeakingly demand food from their masters," wrote the deputy chief of the Russian Security Council in his Telegram channel. The 57-year-old also referred to Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in this context.
According to Medvedev, the Russian leadership has stretched out the "hand of Christian charity" to the Ukrainians. This was rejected, also because the West did not allow the Christmas peace. "Even the uneducated woman Baerbock and a number of other overseers in the European pigsty managed to grumble about the inadmissibility of a ceasefire," wrote Medvedev. The politician, who was once considered relatively liberal, has been trying to distinguish himself as a hardliner towards the West with his statements since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire to last from Friday noon to Saturday midnight - the time of Orthodox Christmas. It is the first time that Moscow has initiated such a ceasefire for the entire front. Until now, ceasefires have been localized, for example to exchange prisoners. Kyiv dismissed calls for ceasefire as "hypocrisy".
Baerbock criticized the ceasefire as insufficient and called for a Russian withdrawal to achieve peace. According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin's proposal is probably aimed at damaging Ukraine's reputation. According to the ISW, a ceasefire would not only give Russian troops the chance to regroup, it would also deprive Ukraine of the initiative.
"Putin cannot expect Ukraine to honor the terms of this suddenly declared ceasefire, he may have called for the ceasefire only to portray Ukraine as unaccommodating and unwilling to negotiate," the report said. The Kremlin had rejected a ceasefire for Orthodox Easter last year.
