In the strongest threat.. Medvedev: If “Crimea” is targeted, the rest of the Ukrainian lands that are still under Kyiv’s control will turn to ashes, and there will be no restrictions, and our response will be with all kinds of weapons

The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, announced that his country has not set restrictions for itself when responding to any attacks against its territory from Kyiv, and there will be a willingness to use all kinds of weapons to respond to that.

Medvedev added, during press statements, by saying: “Our response can be anything, and the Russian president confirmed that. We do not set ourselves any restrictions and, depending on the nature of the threats, are ready to use all kinds of weapons.”

"If Ukraine launches any attack on Crimea, there will be counter-attacks, and the rest of the Ukrainian lands that are still under Kyiv's control will turn to ashes," the deputy head of the Russian Security Council stressed.

In a related context, the adviser to the President of the Russian Republic of Crimea for media policy, Oleg Kryuchkov, described the threat of the Kyiv authorities to launch a missile attack on the peninsula as “barking” from under the sofa, according to “Sputnik”.

Earlier, the adviser to Vladimir Zelensky's office, Mikhail Podolyak, said that after agreeing with the West on the supply of tanks, Kyiv is negotiating the supply of long-range missiles and aircraft to launch strikes in Crimea.

Fighting in Crimea could impact Tatar Muslims there. Tatars are indigenous inhabitants of Crimea, Eastern European Turkic people historically formed in the Crimean Peninsula, which is on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It is estimated that 500,000 Tatar Muslims inhabied the region. Crimean Tatars are, genrally, Sunni Muslims, and they make up 15% of the Crimea population. The majority of the Crimean population adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Crimean Tatars are ethnically connected to the people who live in the Republic of Tatarstan. Founded in 1005 on the banks of the Volga River, about 500 miles east of Moscow, Kazan, the capital of the republic, was a main stop along the Silk Road, the historic trade route for the exchange of not only of goods and services, but also of habits and cultures. Today, about 53% of Tatarstan's population are Muslims, the rest are mostly Russian Orthodox Christians.

Based on previous actions, and based on the use of the Chechen armed forces in conflict zones, Russian fedeation leadership is likely to rely on Chechen Republic armed forces to manage the conflict in Crimea, to make sure that contact between the Russian armed forces with local Muslims is done through other Russian Muslim officials.