The West abhors the independence of Russia and China and the coming decades will not be quiet as it tries to break up the Russian Federation into smaller and weaker states, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today.

During an interview with Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, Mr Medvedev argued that Ukraine is part of “Greater Russia” and added that he saw no prospect of warming Moscow’s relations with Western governments in the near future.

“I believe that at some point the situation will stabilize and communications will be restored, but I honestly believe that by then a large part of these people (including the current Western leaders) will have retired and some will have died,” he added.

Mr. Medvedev, today the vice-president of the National Security Council of Russia, added that if any country tries to proceed with the arrest of President Vladimir Putin, by virtue of the warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, this will be considered in Moscow as a declaration war.