Putin Ally Predicts US Will Collapse in ‘Imminent New Civil War’

Former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued a warning on Saturday predicting the United States will collapse in an “imminent new civil war” amid this year’s election over Russian sanctions.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, Western countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow, with several thousand sanctions on Russian individuals, businesses, and government institutions. The U.S. has gradually expanded the sanctions it imposed as President Joe Biden issued an executive order in December, which allows the U.S. to directly sanction foreign banks facilitating significant transactions for Russia. Washington threatened to block such banks that conduct business with firms that support Russia’s defense industry from its financial system.
In a Saturday Telegram message, Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, spoke about the current political climate of the U.S. and the 2024 presidential race, which will see former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, face off against Vice President Kamala Harris, who won the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.
“Out of spite for the current administration, Donald Trump has threatened to lift sanctions against Russia. But will he really do it if elected? No, of course not. For all his apparent bravado as an ‘outsider’, Trump is ultimately an establishment insider. Yes, he is an eccentric narcissist, but he is also a pragmatist. As a businessman, Trump understands that sanctions harm the dollar’s dominance in the world. However, that’s insufficient reason to stage a revolution in the United States and go against the anti-Russian line of the notorious Deep State, which is much stronger than any Trump,” Medvedev said.
He added: “But what about Harris? You shouldn’t expect any surprises from her. She is inexperienced and, according to her enemies, just plain stupid. Beautiful meaningless speeches and boring ‘correct’ answers to questions will be prepared for her, which she will read off a teleprompter while laughing contagiously. There were sanctions against the USSR throughout the 20th century, and they’ve returned on an unprecedented scale in the 21st. So, it’s sanctions forever. Or rather, until the US collapses during an imminent new civil war. After all, Hollywood makes films about this for a reason.”
Newsweek has reached out to the White House as well as Trump’s and Harris’ campaign via email for comment.
This is not the first time Medvedev has warned of a civil war as he previously issued a warning to the U.S. on July 4, suggesting there are parallels between the American Civil War and the current U.S. political climate that hint at a “premonition of civil war.”
In a July Telegram message, Medvedev acknowledged the significance of Independence Day in America, but then compared the American Civil War to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as he warned of the political climate in the U.S.
Medvedev has made headlines throughout the war in Ukraine for regular social media rants that have ranged from calls for nuclear strikes on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members to suggestions that Moscow has no choice but to eliminate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Responding to a previous inquiry from Newsweek, the U.S. Department of State dismissed the seriousness of Medvedev’s various statements.
“We know by now not to take Medvedev seriously,” a department spokesperson wrote. “This is standard Kremlin nonsense.”
The notion of a civil war in the U.S. has been brought up before by Russian officials. In December 2023, during an appearance on state-run television, Sergei Markov, a notably pro-Putin political scientist and former adviser to the Russian leader, said that such a development would be beneficial for Moscow and would see the conflict in Ukraine end in its favor in “one week.”
“We know if something really starts in America, civil war in Ukraine will stop one week later,” Markov said. “Zelensky and [Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii] Zaluzhny will race all the way over here…They would go to mediators and say, ‘Let’s immediately put an end to all this.'”