Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Tuesday that all countries that joined NATO became an automatic target for the Russian military, including retaliatory strikes involving nuclear weapons. Medvedev hinted that newly-joined NATO states such as Finland and Sweden are now “in a hostile bloc” against Russia, stressing it did not improve the lives of their citizens. At the same time, Russia’s former president again accused Western countries of “drowning in Russophobia,” adding that the extent of these countries’ hostility towards Moscow is surprising. “They carefully learned the methodologies of their predecessors,” he concluded.