Former Russian President Warns British Troops Who Train Ukraine's Military To Be Legitimate Targets

Dmitry Medvedev. (Twitter/@MedvedevRussiaE)

JAKARTA - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that British troops training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russian troops.

Medvedev, who now serves as Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said the Western measures brought the Third World War closer.

Medvedev's warning was delivered after the new British Defense Minister Grant Shapps in an interview said the desire to send military instructors to Ukraine to train the country's military directly, in addition to training them in the UK and other Western countries as is currently underway.

"(This will) turn their instructor into the legitimate target of our armed forces," Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

"Understanding well that they will be brutally destroyed. And not as mercenaries, but as British NATO specialists," he stressed.

Last week, Shapps visited Ukraine for the first time as defense minister after his appointment.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Shapps said there was room to offer military training in Ukraine, after discussions on Friday with British military leaders.

"I spoke today about the possibility of bringing the training closer and actually to Ukraine as well," he was quoted as saying.

"Especially in the western region of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things 'in the country'," he added.