Russia PM warns of 'new cold war' amid Syria accusations

The Russian prime minister has said the world is slipping into a “new cold war” after European leaders condemned his country’s airstrikes on Syria and called on Vladimir Putin to end them as a precursor for peace negotiations. Dmitry Medvedev told a security conference in Munich that a lack of cooperation threatened to return the continent to “40 years ago, when a wall was standing in Europe”. He rejected the widely held belief that Russian planes had hit civilian targets in Syria. 

“There is no evidence of our bombing civilians, even though everyone is accusing us of this,” he said on Saturday. “Russia is not trying to achieve some secret goals in Syria. We are simply trying to protect our national interests …

“Creating trust is hard … but we have to start. Our positions differ, but they do not differ as much as 40 years ago when a wall was standing in Europe.

“You could say even more sharply: we have fallen into a new cold war,” he said. “Nearly on a daily basis, we are being blamed for the most terrible threat to Nato as a whole, to Europe, to America, to other countries. They make scary movies where Russia starts a nuclear war. I sometimes wonder: are we in 2016 or 1962?”

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, rejected Medvedev’s accusations: “Russia’s rhetoric, posture and exercises of its nuclear forces are aimed at intimidating its neighbours, undermining trust and stability in Europe.”

Medvedev’s French counterpart, Manuel Valls, told the conference: “To find the path to peace again, the Russian bombing of civilians [in Syria] has to stop.”

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said most of Russia’s attacks had been against legitimate opposition groups in Syria. “This is the moment. This is a hinge point,” he said. “Decisions made in the coming days and weeks, and a few months could end the war in Syria – or could define a very difficult set of choices for the future.

“The war in Syria has now lasted for almost five years and shows no signs of burning itself out, which is why we are so focused on a political track. If the international community and the Syrians themselves miss the opportunity now before us to achieve that political resolution to the conflict [then] the violence, the bloodshed, the torture, the bombing, and the anguish will continue – so will the siren call to jihad.”

However, Russia’s foreign minister said the chances of securing a ceasefire within a week were less than 50% and his country remained deeply suspicious of US intentions.  Sergey Lavrov said military cooperation between the US and Russia was the “key tool” to ensuring the humanitarian supplies were delivered and hostilities ended.

“If we are moving closer to practical goals of [a] truce then, without cooperation between the military, nothing will work out,” he told the Munich conference.

The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said the chance of a truce depended on Russia’s actions: “Unless Russia over the next days is going to stop, or at least significantly scale back that bombing, the moderate armed opposition will not join in this [peace] process. They cannot be expected to join in this process.”

Germany’s foreign ministry said Russia’s military action had “seriously compromised” the peace process, while the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said on Twitter: “What is important now is embracing this opportunity, stopping the airstrikes, ceasing targeting civilians and providing humanitarian access.”