Putin ally: US dream of Russian breakup is road to doom

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian official has accused the U.S. and its allies of trying to provoke the country’s breakup and warned that it could lead to doomsday. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, warned the West that pushing Russia toward collapse would amount to a “chess game with Death.” Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president in 2008-2012 when term limits forced Putin to shift into the prime minister’s post, alleged that some in the West would like to “take advantage of the military conflict in Ukraine to push our country to a new twist of disintegration.” He said that Russia’s nuclear arsenals are “the best guarantee of safeguarding the Great Russia.”