Putin Ally Makes Sinister Threat to NATO Country

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a sinister threat to Latvia, which is a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), on social media on Friday.

NATO has strongly condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, with Russian propagandists repeatedly making threats about Moscow going after countries within the military alliance. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has “no interest” in fighting with members of NATO.

Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and close ally to Putin, called Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs and others “Nazi bastards” and said that they “must remember the fate of the fascists” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Various nazi bastards who wish death on Russia – like rinkēvičs, the president of a non-existent latvia – must remember the fate of the fascists, the 1943 Kharkov trial included. Retribution is inevitable. Memento mori!” he wrote.

Memento mori is Latin for “remember you must die” and is a reminder of mortality.

Latvia, a former Soviet state, gained independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 and is globally recognized as a sovereign nation. Latvia became a member of NATO in 2004.

During the Kharkov trial in December 1943, three Nazis and a Soviet collaborator were found guilty of war crimes by a Soviet military Court in Kharkov and sentenced to death. Kharkov, more familiarly known as Kharkiv, is a city in Ukraine, which, at the time, was controlled by the Soviet Union.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government and Latvia’s ministry of foreign affairs via online form for comment.

When Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he said that he wanted to “denazify” the country. The Soviet Union helped defeat Nazi Germany during World War II.

Putin’s denazification claim has received widespread backlash from critics who believe Russia is infringing on Ukraine’s sovereignty in a power grab. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish and had family who died in the Holocaust, has condemned Putin’s denazification claim.

Medvedev also took aim at Romania on Friday, saying it is “not a nation” on social media site VK. Romania, another member of NATO, also gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the 20th century and is a sovereign nation.

In Medvedev’s post, he criticized European leaders as “weaklings” and “nonentities” while dismissing a call for Russia to return Romania’s gold, which the Putin ally said was confiscated for “bad behavior.”

On Thursday, the European Parliament voted in favor of a non-binding resolution calling for Russia to return national treasures to Romania that it has kept since World War I, including an assortment of jewels and 91.5 metric tons of gold.