Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
The West risks triggering WW3 if it continues to allow Ukraine to attack Russian territory, top Putin ally warns
A top Putin ally has warned the West that it risks triggering a third World War if it allows Ukraine to carry on its assault of 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 allow Kyiv to attack Russian territory.
Chemezov, CEO of the Rostec corporation which supplies many of Russia's arms for the war, said Russia felt confident and had enough weapons more than two years into its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
The Putin 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 war, we must be ready,' Chemezov, who served with Putin in East Germany in the KGB before the Soviet Union collapsed, said, adding: 'The third year of the special operation is under way, and Russia feels confident.'
He said no one would provide a time frame for when the war might end, and accused the US of stoking the conflict by supplying weapons to Kyiv and allowing strikes deep into Russia.
A former KGB general warned the West that it could trigger a third World War (File image of a nuclear explosion)
Sergei Chemezov (pictured), a close ally of despot Vladimir Putin, says the United States and its Western allies risk triggering a global war
The Putin sycophant, a former KGB general, reiterated the Putin's (pictured) position that the conflict is a battle between the West and Russia
Medics, volunteers and military personnel undergo a tactical training, including first aid and the simulation of a wounded comrade evacuation, in the southern Russian Rostov region
'The further it goes, the greater the risk that the world will be drawn into a global conflict. It looks strange, but Western countries do not seem to understand just how fraught this is for them.'
Putin said last week Russian forces would eject Ukrainian troops from Russian sovereign territory but they remain inside Russia.
The Russian leader said in June he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the West if they let Ukraine 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 decadent West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine.
The West, which has supplied Kyiv with large amounts of weapons, has consistently rejected Moscow's interpretation of the war and regards it as unprovoked land grab by Russia.
Health workers, volunteers and military personnel hold a joint training for war-zones in Aksaysky District in Rostov Oblast, Russia
Chemezov said no one would provide a time frame for when the war might end, and accused the US of stoking the conflict by supplying weapons to Kyiv
Moscow says the West was involved in planning for Ukraine's attack on the Kursk region. Western powers, which want to avoid direct military confrontation with Russia, have denied this and say Russia has stoked the war.
Chemezov, 71, was placed under American 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 because of sanctions and increased defence spending.
'Go to any Russian hypermarket and see for yourself - everything is fine,' he said.
Sanctions have destroyed supply chains, forcing Rostec to shift deadlines for the Yakovlev MC-21 airliner and to replace about 40 imported elements in the Superjet-100, but none of this is fatal for Russia or Rostec, he said.
Rostec's headcount will rise by tens of thousands this year, he said, describing the departure from the Russian market of Western companies such as Boeing and Airbus as an 'opportunity' for Rostec for which wanted to say 'thank you'.
Ukrainian soldiers who arrived from the front disembark from a US-made M113 armoured personnel carrier in an undisclosed area in the eastern Donetsk region, on August 5, 2024
Ukrainian soldiers drive in a vehicle in an undisclosed area of the eastern Donetsk region, on August 5, 2024
'We have passed the main stress. We managed to extract advantages from the situation and draw the necessary conclusions. One of them is: no more joint business based on trust with Western countries,' Chemezov said.
Russia is the world's third largest arms exporter after the US and France, although its share of the global market fell in 2023 because of the war in Ukraine, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Chemezov said defence companies would continue to make a significant contribution to Russia's economy even after the conflict in Ukraine.
Weapons exports have declined, but there are signs of significant delayed demand from abroad, he said, partly due to the fact that Russian weapons had been proven on the battlefield in Ukraine.
'Our partners are sympathetic and ready to wait,' Chemezov said, without naming them. 'There is already a considerable queue on the waiting list.'