SIRIUS FEDERAL TERRITORY. March 4 (Interfax) - Russia's actions in Ukraine are a response to an encroachment on Russian statehood and do not represent the expansion of borders through occupation, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.
In a lecture delivered at the Knowledge.First Enlightenment Marathon held as part of the World Youth Festival, Medvedev mentioned the situation in Ukraine as he talked about the concept of strategic borders outside national territories.
"The existence of strategic borders outside national territories today does not at all mean, I want to emphasize this so you understand me right, because there are representatives of various countries here, it does not at all mean the intention of strong and responsible countries to go to war with their neighbors and redraw the world's political map. That is the difference between our time and previous centuries, when borders constantly fluctuated and could be contested at any moment," he said.
"What is happening in Ukraine is a special situation. We are not talking about expanding the borders of our country, the Russian Federation, through effective occupation," Medvedev said.
Russia's actions "are a forced, but quite effective response to the russophobic policies of the Banderite regime and the collective West, to its intention to destroy our statehood [and] undermine independence and sovereignty," he said.
Russia will not give away its shelf territories in the Arctic Ocean, including the Gakkel Ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge, Medvedev said. "The principle 'we don't want any foreign land, but we won't give up an inch of our own' is quite applicable to the borders of the continental shelf, which is adjacent to the Russian coast in the Arctic Ocean, and also our sovereignty over transport communications in the Arctic," he said.
"This land is ours, it is Russian, including the Gakkel Ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge, [and] we won't let anyone take it away," Medvedev said.