A top Russian general has warned Vladimir Putin not to go to war with Ukraine, accusing the leader of whipping up an ‘artificial’ conflict to distract from his domestic problems.
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov penned an open letter in which he blasted Putin’s ‘criminal policy of provoking a war’ despite Russia not facing any ‘critical threats’.
The rare outburst of internal dissent comes as Emmanuel Macron jets to the Kremlin for crisis talks with Putin, a day after the White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said an invasion could come ‘any day’ at an ‘enormous human cost’.
Ivashov, the chairman of the All-Russian Officers’ Assembly who previously served as Putin’s chief of military cooperation in the Ministry of Defence, fears Russia will become a ‘pariah of the world community’ if an invasion is launched.
He said: ‘As for external threats, they are certainly present. But, according to our expert assessment, they are not currently critical, directly threatening the existence of Russian statehood and its vital interests.
‘On the whole, strategic stability is maintained, nuclear weapons are under reliable control, NATO forces are not building up, and they are not showing threatening activity.
‘Therefore, the situation that is being whipped up around Ukraine is, first of all, artificial, mercenary in nature for some internal forces, including the Russian Federation.’
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
