Russian general warns of ‘last war in history of mankind’
THE fallout from the Salisbury poisoning could lead to the “last war in the history of mankind”, a retired Russian general has warned.
Relations between Russia and the West could become “worse” than the Cold War and “end up in a very, very bad outcome” following the nerve agent attack, Lieutenant-general Evgeny Buzhinsky said. Responding to arguments that many countries across the world believed the Kremlin was responsible for last month’s attack, Mr Buzhinsky, who now heads an international security think-tank the PIR Center, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Please, when you say the world, you mean EU and United States and some other countries... you see it’s a cold war, it’s worse than the Cold War because if the situation will develop in the way this (is) now, I’m afraid that it will end up in a very, very bad outcome.”
Asked to spell out what this would mean, he said: “A real war, worse than a cold war is a real war, it will be the last war in the history of mankind.”
He added: “You’re saying that the pressure will continue, what are you going achieve? If you are going to achieve (the) regime change, it’s useless, you don’t know Russians. The more external pressure (there) is, the more the society is consolidated around the president.”
Explaining how the situation could escalate, Mr Buzhinksy accused the West of “cornering” Russia which he argued was a “very dangerous thing”.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules. But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour, as well as a new and dangerous phase in Russian activity within the continent and beyond.”
Asked why Russia had not been granted consular access to Ms Skripal, the spokesman said that such access was “based on a number of considerations, including consent from the individual”.