Former President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed Moscow is fighting a holy war against Satan and warned Russia is capable of sending its enemies to hell, the latest in a slew of outlandish remarks targeting Ukraine and the West from an ally of President Vladimir Putin who for years portrayed himself as a relative liberal.
In a message marking Russia's Day of National Unity on November 4, Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the task of the fatherland was to "stop the supreme ruler of hell, whatever name he uses -- Satan, Lucifer, or Iblis."
The conflict, which began eight months ago with an unprovoked invasion by Russian forces of its neighbor, has killed thousands, displaced millions, shaken the global economy, and reopened Cold War-era divisions such as the fear of nuclear war.
Although the former president did not mention Ukraine in his video, his comments were the latest veiled threat of the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia, which has suffered numerous battlefield setbacks since Putin launched the invasion.
They are also part of growing efforts by the Kremlin to cast the conflict as a righteous struggle against a decadent West and "crazy Nazi drug addicts" in Ukraine.
The accusations have been repeatedly dismissed by Kyiv and its allies, who point out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was democratically elected, is Jewish, and lost relatives in the Holocaust.
Still, a number of high-ranking Russian figures -- from Patriarch Kirill to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov -- have come out with statements that Russia is fighting in Ukraine against "Satanists" or the "Antichrist" himself.
Leaders from several Western nations have denounced such comments, while Zelenskiy has accused Russia of having forgotten the lessons of World War II.