Putin loyalist Dmitry Medvedev predicts 'war in the West'

Former Russian president surprises Twitter users with lengthy post detailing his predictions for the next year

Dmitry Medvedev served as president during a four-year spell when Vladimir Putin held the office of prime minister. Reuters

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, a Vladimir Putin loyalist who was given a new job this week, predicted war between Germany and France next year and a civil war in the US that would lead to Elon Musk becoming president.

Mr Medvedev, deputy head of Mr Putin's advisory security council, served as president during a four-year spell when Mr Putin held the office of prime minister.

His fortunes appear to be on the rise in the Kremlin, which said on Monday he would serve as Mr Putin's deputy on a body overseeing the military industry.

In his list of predictions for 2023, published on Telegram and Twitter, he also foresaw Britain rejoining the EU, which would in turn collapse.

Mr Musk, the Tesla boss who now owns Twitter, responded to the suggestion that he would become US president by tweeting back “Epic thread!!” — although he also criticised some of Mr Medvedev's predictions in a later post.

Mr Medvedev has praised Mr Musk in the past for proposing that Ukraine cede territory to Russia in a peace deal.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Mr Medvedev has reinvented himself as an arch-hawk, framing the conflict in apocalyptic, religious terms and referring to Ukrainians as “cockroaches” in language Kyiv says is openly genocidal.

Last week, he made a rare foreign visit to China, holding talks on foreign policy with President Xi Jinping.

Political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov said Mr Medvedev's newly outspoken public persona appeared to have found favour with his boss.

“Medvedev's Telegram posts have found at least one reader, and indeed an admirer: Putin,” Mr Pastukhov, a professor at London's University College London, wrote on Telegram.