Ukraine issues arrest warrant for Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has put out an arrest warrant for former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. They are accused of infringing upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the country’s interior ministry database says.

UPDATED 19:25
It was later reported that the Ukrainian Security Service had issued an arrest warrant for Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov. Later, the Ukrainian police announced that FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, National Guard head Viktor Zolotov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, senate speaker Valentina Matviyenko, foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and others had been added to the wanted list as well.

“In its current configuration, with its Nazi political regime, the Ukrainian state will represent a constant, direct and clear threat to Russia. So, in my opinion, in the future, we should not only aim to protect our people and defend our borders, but to fully dismantle the political regime of Ukraine,” Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin has ordered to launch investigative proceedings due to the “unlawful persecution” of Dmitry Medvedev by the Ukrainian Security Service. “Clearly, the decisions of the SBU were made on fabricated grounds and contradict the law,” the message published by the committee reads.

Earlier, Medvedev issued a statement regarding the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. ““This is an act of terrorism and a diversion carried out by the criminal Kyiv regime. There is no doubt of that, and there never has been. All the reports and conclusions have been made. Russia’s only response to this crime is direct elimination of terrorists. As is customary in the world. This is what the Russian citizens are waiting for,” he said.

Last week, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian envoy to the republic over the statements made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who expressed outrage over the presence of Ukrainian ambassador Petro Vrublevsky in Kazakhstan. Vrublevsky made the following statement in August: “We are trying to kill as many of them as we can. The more Russians we kill now, the fewer Russians our children will have to kill. That’s it.” In response, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Aybek Smadiyarov stated that the tone of Zakharova’s statement “is dissonant with the nature of allied relations between Kazakhstan and Russia as equal strategic partners”.