His comments come on the heels of an announcement by Putin that he is calling up 300,000 reserve troops to throw into battle in Ukraine after Kyiv's troops have made substantial gains in a counterattack that sent Russian troops in Ukraine's east reeling. In the same announcement, Putin strongly suggested he could resort to the use of nuclear weapons, and added pointedly that he isn't bluffing, according to CNBC, which added:
Putin said “mobilization events” would begin Wednesday without providing further details, aside from saying he had ordered an increase in funding to boost Russia’s weapons production, having committed (and lost) a large amount of weaponry during the conflict, which began in late February.
A partial mobilization is a hazy concept, but it could mean that Russian businesses and citizens have to contribute more to the war effort. Russia has not yet declared war on Ukraine, despite having invaded in February, and it calls its invasion a “special military operation.”
Putin confirmed that military reservists would be called up into active service, but insisted a wider conscription of Russian men of fighting age was not taking place.
“I reiterate, we are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience,” he said according to an Associated Press translation.
“Conscripts will obligatorily go through additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation before departing to the units,” he added.
Alexander Dugin, one of Putin's main cheerleaders, also warned that World War III looms. What's more, though Russia invaded Ukraine, Dugin claims the globe is on the "brink" because of the West.
"We are on the brink of World War III, which the West is compulsively pushing for. And this is no longer a fear or expectation, it is a fact. Russia is at war with the collective West, with NATO and its allies (though not with all of them: Turkey and Greece have their own position and some European countries, primarily but not only France and Italy, do not want to actively participate in a war with Russia). Yet, the threat of a third world war is getting closer and closer," he said.
"Whether it will come to the use of nuclear weapons is an open question. But the probability of a nuclear Armageddon grows by the day. It is quite clear, and many American military commanders (such as the former American commander in Europe Ben Hodges) openly declare it, that the West will not even be satisfied with our complete withdrawal from the territory of the former Ukraine, we will end up on our own soil, insisting on ‘unconditional surrender’ (Jens Stoltenberg), ‘de-imperialisation’ (Ben Hodges), dismemberment of Russia," he continued.
"In 1991, the West was content with the collapse of the USSR and our ideological surrender, primarily by accepting the Western liberal ideology, political system and economy under Western leadership. Today, the red line for the West is the existence of a sovereign Russia, even within the borders of the Russian Federation," Dugin noted further.
"The AFU’s counter-attack in the Kharkiv region is a direct attack by the West on Russia. Everyone knows that this offensive was organised, prepared and equipped by the US and NATO military command and took place under their direct supervision. It is not only the use of NATO military equipment, but also the direct involvement of Western aerospace intelligence, mercenaries and instructors. In the eyes of the West, this is the beginning of ‘our end,' he went on.
"Once we have made a weakness in the defense of the territories under our control in the Kharkiv region, we can be further defeated. This is not a small success of the Kiev counteroffensive, but the first tangible success of the NATO forces’ Drang nach Osten," he said.
Dugin is not wrong that the West has turned the conflict in Ukraine into a proxy war against Russia. Putin will not continue to sit idly by and watch his army and its men decimated without some sort of response.
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