Russia's Medvedev predicts more countries will acquire nuclear weapons

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that more countries would get nuclear weapons in the coming years, blaming the West for pushing the world towards the brink of World War Three by waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Medvedev, who cast himself as a liberal moderniser when he was president from 2008-2012, now presents himself as an anti-Western Kremlin hawk. Diplomats say his remarks give an indication of thinking at the top levels of the Kremlin elite.

In a post about the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty which he signed with then U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague in 2010, Medvedev said the risk of nuclear conflict was at an all time high. The treaty is due to expire in February 2026.

Referring to recent statements from the leaders of France and Britain about their nuclear arsenals, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council chastised European powers for what he said was sabre-rattling over their "meagre strategic capabilities" and said the situation was fraught with danger.

"The situation is such that even with the complete cessation of the conflict over so-called 'Ukraine' nuclear disarmament in the coming decades is impossible," Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel.

"The world will create new, more destructive types of weapons, and new countries will acquire nuclear arsenals."

Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, with about 88% of all nuclear weapons, followed by China, France, Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn)