Vladimir Putin warns against World War 3

Russian leader blames US for disrupting
global power balance

One-Minute Read

In a mammoth four-and-half-hour TV call-in show, during which he
touched on a range of subjects from rising petrol prices to the
upcoming World Cup and his successor, the Russian president accused
the US of upending the global nuclear power balance.

Why did Putin issue the warning?

Responding to a worried viewer, Putin excoriated the US’s
decision to withdraw from the Soviet-era anti-ballistic missile
treaty in 2002.

“The fear of mutually assured destruction has always restrained
and forced military powers to respect each other,” he said. “The
exit of the United States from the missile defence treaty was an
attempt to ruin this parity, but our efforts in the development of
new weapons will preserve this parity.”

The thinly veiled threat aimed at the West follows a huge show of military force at this year’s
Victory Day parade in Red Square, during which the latest Russian
military hardware was unveiled to great fanfare.

On the subject of Western-imposed sanctions which followed the
annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin responded bullishly, saying:
“It is clear to us that we have to defend our interests and to do
so consistently, not boorishly or rudely, in both the sphere of the
economy and of defence.”

Asked whether “non-stop” sanctions could lead to World War 3,
Putin quoted Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World
War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks
and stones.”

He added that any country’s interests should not be protected
“through confrontation”.

What is Russia’s nuclear capability?

Despite the warnings of a third great global conflict, Business Insider says “perhaps more than any
other country, Russia has the nuclear capability to end the
world”.

With about 7,000 nuclear weapons making up the world’s most
diverse and destructive nuclear arsenal, “Putin could unilaterally
decide to embark on a civilisation-ending war”, says the news
site.

During his annual state of the union address earlier this year,
Putin boasted of his country’s nuclear capabilities and seemed to
confirm the existence of a Russian doomsday device, that could render large
tranches of the world uninhabitable for decades.