Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has used an old cable of more than 8 decades to stimulate the arms industry in his country, which has been at war in neighboring Ukraine for more than a year.
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, read out the text of a threatening 1941 telegram written by former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to Russian arms industry leaders in a bid to boost domestic arms production.
Medvedev posted online footage of himself reading a World War II-era cable (1939-1945) from Stalin during a meeting with a National Armament Commission.
Stalin wrote a letter in 1941 to a factory asking it to speed up production of tank parts, saying that "if in a few days it turns out that you are violating your duty to the homeland, I will begin to beat you like criminals."
Turning to a group of leaders of the Russian arms industry, Medvedev said: "Colleagues, I want you to listen to me and remember the words of General (Stalin)."
Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a staunch supporter of what Moscow calls a "special operation" it has been carrying out in Ukraine for more than a year.
Many Russian media outlets spoke about his unusual statements and his decision to quote Stalin.
Shortly after he published his videos, Medvedev also published excerpts from an interview with Russian journalists, in which he said that Russia was already at war against all of NATO.
In the past few months, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council has made several controversial statements, including in particular the threat of the use of nuclear weapons in the context of the current confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war.