Russian PM warns against 'new cold war' at MSC

MUNICH, Germany - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned here on Saturday that the world has slid into a "new cold war," criticizing the West's "unfriendly" policy against his country.

"Almost every day we are called one of the most terrible threats either to NATO as a whole, or to Europe, or to the United States," Medvedev said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

"We have slid back to a new cold war," he warned, "Sometimes I wonder whether it is 2016 we are living in or 1962."

Different positions in Syrian conflicts and Ukraine undermined the relations between Russia and the West. Both sides posed sanctions against each other.

Medvedev criticized that policies including expansion of NATO towards eastern Europe were "unfriendly" towards Russia. Facing various challenges including terrorism and regional conflicts, cooperation instead of confrontation was necessary, he said.

"Sanctions are not only against those whom these sanction are introduced to, but also against those who use those sanctions," Medvedev said, adding that "active dialogues on the future architecture of security" was particularly important to avoid repeating mistakes in history.