Russia’s Medvedev Floats Idea of Pushing Back Poland’s Borders

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
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Russia’s Medvedev Floats Idea of Pushing Back Poland’s Borders

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a "special military operation" to protect Russian speakers and ensure its own security.

Ukraine says it is defending itself from an unprovoked colonial-style war of aggression and has vowed to retake all of its own territory by force, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Medvedev, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, forecast on Friday that Russia would be victorious and that some kind of loose agreement would eventually end the fighting.

"Victory will be achieved. We all want it to happen as soon as possible. And that day will come," said Medvedev. He predicted that tough negotiations with Ukraine and the West would follow that would culminate in "some kind of agreement."

But he said that deal would lack what he called "fundamental agreements on real borders" and not amount to an over-arching European security pact, making it vital for Russia to extend its own borders now.

"That is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland," said Medvedev.

Poland shares long eastern borders with Ukraine and with Russia's ally Belarus, and a frontier of some 200 km (125 miles) in its northeastern corner with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Any encroachment on Poland's borders would bring Russia for the first time into direct conflict with NATO. US President Joe Biden pledged in a speech in Warsaw this week to defend "every inch" of NATO territory if it was attacked.

Medvedev, 57, has adopted an increasingly hawkish tone and made a series of outspoken interventions since the war began with some political analysts suggesting he is one of the people that Putin might one day consider as a successor.



Canada Foiled Iran Plot to Assassinate Former Minister

 Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
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Canada Foiled Iran Plot to Assassinate Former Minister

 Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)

Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran, Cotler's organization said Monday.

The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that he was informed on October 26 that he faced an imminent threat -- within 48 hours -- of assassination from Iranian agents.

Authorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing an unnamed source.

In an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.

Cotler "has no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made," said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.

Tehran late on Monday denied what it described as "the claim of Canadian media that Iran tried to assassinate a Canadian person," the official IRNA news agency reported, citing Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas at the foreign ministry.

The Iranian diplomat denounced the report as "ridiculous storytelling and in line with the misinformation campaign against Iran".

A spokesperson for Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment, telling AFP: "We cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons."

Another senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot "very concerning."

Jean-Yves Duclos, the government's senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, said it was likely "very difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear" about it.

The House of Commons, meanwhile, passed a unanimous motion praising Cotler's work in defense of human rights and "condemning the death threats against him orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime."

Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas gunmen.

Cotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.

His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.

Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.

It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent "disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order."

As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.

His daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel's parliament.