Britain has accused Russia of making a “gangster threat” after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a warning to journalists at The Times over the newspaper’s coverage of the assassination of Igor Kirillov, the head the Russian army’s chemical weapons division.

An editorial piece that ran in the paper referred to the killing as “a legitimate act of defence” by Ukraine.

The editorial alleged that Kirillov “would have been responsible for numerous documented chemical attacks on Ukrainian forces in the field”.

Russia’s ex-president, who is currently the deputy chair of its Security Council, appeared to threaten senior staff at the paper on Wednesday after the piece was published.

“And they, too, are now legitimate military targets. These may include the lousy jackals from The Times, who cowardly hid behind an editorial. Meaning, the publication’s entire management team,” Medvedev posted on Telegram.

“The people who committed the crimes against Russia … always have accomplices,” he added.

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A source in the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the agency was behind the attack. Ukraine has yet to officially comment on the incident.

“Unlike in Russia, a free press is a cornerstone of our democracy and we take any threats made by Russia incredibly seriously,” a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Medvedev’s comments as a “gangster threat” that “smacks of desperation”.

“Our newspapers represent the best of British values: freedom, democracy and independent thinking,” he added.

The Times says that Moscow has already banned several of its journalists from entering Russia.

Medvedev, who served a single term as Russian president between 2008 and 2012, also threatened NATO figures providing military assistance to Ukraine.

Referencing the article, which called Kirillov’s killing a “discriminate strike against an aggressor”, he said “this logic” meant “NATO decision-makers” helping Kyiv “are participating in a hybrid or conventional war against Russia”.

“All these individuals can and should be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian state. And for all Russian patriots, for that matter,” he posted.

The threat comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets NATO chief Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels to discuss Russia’s war ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Addressing reporters alongside Rutte, Zelenskyy called it a “very good opportunity to speak about security guarantees for Ukraine, for today and for tomorrow.”

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The talks come just over a month before Trump reclaims the United States presidency, having pledged to bring a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which NATO says has left more than one million dead and wounded since Russia’s 2022 invasion.