April 30 - Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the United States is unlikely to be an effective mediator in international conflicts because of its conduct on the world stage.
Speaking at an educational forum, Medvedev - a former president of Russia and now deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council - criticised U.S. actions he said included kidnapping presidents and initiating conflicts, remarks that he framed as undermining the United States’ capacity to act neutrally in mediation roles.
Medvedev appeared to reference the Iran war and a U.S. special forces operation which, he said, was ordered by President Donald Trump in January to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bring him to the United States to face trial on drug charges. He said these examples made it difficult to view the United States as an impartial conflict broker.
At the same forum, Medvedev contrasted what he described as the Trump administration’s efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine with the approach of the previous administration under Joe Biden, saying the current U.S. administration was making an effort to address the situation.
Medvedev, known as one of Russia’s most hawkish officials and for his acerbic public comments on international affairs, also said Europe was undergoing a process of militarisation. He compared that process to the military build-up that preceded World War Two, asserting that the continent is increasingly preparing for armed confrontation.
Turning to Russia’s military manpower, Medvedev reported that 450,000 people had signed contracts to join the Russian armed forces in 2025, and that an additional 127,000 had enlisted so far this year. These figures reflect Moscow’s shift from the compulsory mobilisation of 2022 to relying on recruited professional soldiers, with the state offering substantial payments to encourage enlistment.
The lengths of both Russia’s recruitment drive and the scale of combat losses remain matters of public attention. Neither Russia nor Ukraine disclose official casualty totals. The Russian outlet Mediazona, in a joint investigative project with the BBC Russian service, says it has confirmed at least 213,858 Russian military deaths as of last week.
Medvedev’s remarks underscore a broader narrative from a senior Kremlin-aligned official questioning Western motives and methods in geopolitical disputes, while providing figures intended to convey the scale of Russia’s ongoing manpower commitments to the conflict in Ukraine.