A top Putin ally has warned the West that it risks triggering a third world war if it allows Ukraine to continue its assault on Russian territory.
Sergei Chemezov, a close ally of despot Vladimir Putin, says the United States and its Western allies risk triggering a global war if Washington continues to “provoke” the conflict in Ukraine and allows kyiv to attack Russian territory.
Chemezov, director general of the Rostec corporation, which supplies many of Russia’s weapons for the war, said Russia was confident and had enough weapons more than two years after its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Putin’s sycophant, a former KGB general, reiterated the Kremlin’s position that the conflict is a battle between the West and Russia.
“In a situation where the West, led by the United States, provokes a war, we must be prepared,” said Chemezov, who served with Putin in East Germany in the KGB before the collapse of the Soviet Union, adding: “The third year of the special operation is underway and Russia feels confident.”
He said no one would provide a time frame for when the war might end, and accused the United States of fueling the conflict by supplying arms to kyiv and allowing attacks inside Russia.
A former KGB general warned the West that it could trigger a third world war (Archive image of a nuclear explosion)
Sergei Chemezov (pictured), a close ally of despot Vladimir Putin, says the US and its Western allies risk triggering a global war.
Putin’s sycophant, a former KGB general, reiterated Putin’s position (pictured) that the conflict is a battle between the West and Russia.
Doctors, volunteers and soldiers receive tactical training, including first aid and simulating the evacuation of a wounded comrade, in the Rostov region in southern Russia.
“The longer this situation continues, the greater the risk that the world will be drawn into a global conflict. It seems strange, but Western countries do not seem to understand how dangerous it is for them.”
Putin said last week that Russian forces would expel Ukrainian troops from sovereign Russian territory, but that they would remain within Russia.
The Russian leader said in June that he might deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the West if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons.
The autocrat claims the Ukrainian invasion is part of an existential battle with a declining and failing West, which he says humiliated Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by invading what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence, including Ukraine.
The West, which has supplied Kiev with large quantities of weapons, has consistently rejected Moscow’s interpretation of the war as an unprovoked land grab by Russia.
Medical workers, volunteers and military personnel conduct joint training for war zones in the Aksaysky district of the Rostov region, Russia
Chemezov said no one would provide a time frame for when the war might end and accused the United States of fuelling the conflict by supplying arms to kyiv.
Moscow claims the West was involved in planning the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region. Western powers, keen to avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia, have denied this and say Russia has fuelled the war.
Chemezov, 71, was subject to US and EU sanctions after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
He said it was a “myth” that there were empty shelves in Russian shops due to sanctions and increased defence spending.
“Go to any Russian hypermarket and see for yourself: everything is fine,” he says.
Sanctions have destroyed supply chains, forcing Rostec to change deadlines for the Yakovlev MC-21 passenger jet and replace about 40 imported elements on the Superjet-100, but none of this is fatal for Russia or Rostec, he said.
“This year Rostec’s workforce will increase by tens of thousands,” he said, describing the exit from the Russian market of Western companies such as Boeing and Airbus as an “opportunity” for Rostec, for which he wanted to say “thank you.”
Ukrainian soldiers arriving from the front disembark from a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier in an undisclosed area in the eastern Donetsk region, August 5, 2024.
Ukrainian soldiers drive a vehicle in an undisclosed area of the eastern Donetsk region, August 5, 2024.
“We have overcome the main tension. We have been able to take advantage of the situation and draw the necessary conclusions. One of them is: no more joint ventures based on trust with Western countries,” Chemezov said.
Russia is the world’s third-largest arms exporter after the United States and France, although its share of the global market is expected to fall in 2023 due to the war in Ukraine, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Chemezov said that defense companies will continue to make a significant contribution to Russia’s economy even after the conflict in Ukraine.
Arms exports have declined but there are signs of a significant lag in demand from abroad, he said, partly due to the fact that Russian weapons have been tested on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“Our partners are understanding and willing to wait,” Chemezov said, without naming them. “There is already a considerable queue on the waiting list.”