(ANSA-AFP) - MOSCOW, NOV 4 - Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev on Friday railed against the thousands of his countrymen who fled Russia after it sent troops to Ukraine, denouncing them as "cowardly traitors." In a social media post on Russian Unity Day -- a holiday introduced by President Vladimir Putin in 2005 to celebrate a 1612 victory over invading Polish forces -- the former leader said Russia was "stronger and cleaner" without them. "We were abandoned by some frightened partners, who cares about them," Medvedev said on Telegram.

"Cowardly traitors and greedy defectors fled to faraway lands -- let their bones rot in a foreign place." Tens of thousands of Russians rushed to leave the country after President Vladimir Putin launched an attack on Ukraine on February 24. A second wave left after Putin announced a mobilisation of 300,000 reservists on September 21. Since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine, 57-year-old Medvedev has often taken to social media to write increasingly anti-Western posts. Medvedev was Russia's president between 2008 and 2012 after switching roles with Putin, who served as prime minister in between his Kremlin terms. (ANSA-AFP).