Russia’s key ally warns of World War III

Russia’s key ally warns of World War III

RT

The world is teetering on the brink of World War III, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned, sounding the alarm about the recent escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

Lukashenko made the remarks on Friday during an address to university students in Minsk, days after Ukraine launched several strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, into territory internationally recognized as Russia, something Moscow had previously strongly warned against.

Moscow responded with its own strike on a defense complex in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, using its latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range missile.

“We have been talking a lot lately about how, God forbid, World War III might start, that we are on the brink of that terrible event. But, thank God, somehow humanity is still restraining itself and has not yet plunged into World War III,” the Belarusian leader said, adding that the “information war,” however, is now in full swing.

He added that the Ukraine conflict should be settled through talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. “No Americans, no Europeans – they won’t do anything good for us... We have to sit down and come to an agreement,” he stressed.

Instead, however, the conflict continues to escalate, Lukashenko noted. “Under no circumstances should [Belarus] get involved. If it comes to a clash between Russia and NATO, it will not be easy for us either. We don’t want war on our territory, we don’t want other people’s interests to be decided here at our expense,” he stressed.

Belarus is an ally of Russia under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The two are also part of the Union State, an entity aimed at bringing Moscow and Minsk closer together economically and geopolitically.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Belarus has supported Russia, but has not directly engaged in hostilities. It also hosted several rounds of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, which failed to lead to a decisive breakthrough. Despite this, Lukashenko has repeatedly urged the two countries to negotiate, while offering his mediation.

Take Putin’s warnings seriously – Orban

The West should not ignore Russian President Vladimir Putin's warnings  regarding Moscow’s response to long-range Ukrainian strikes, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

On Thursday, Putin announced that Russia had used its new Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile to destroy a military-industrial facility in Dnipro (formerly Dnepropetrovsk) in Ukraine. The strike was carried out in response to Kiev’s attacks on internationally recognized Russian territory using US-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles, he said.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities, and in case of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in mirror-like manner,”the Russian leader warned.

In an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban, who is one of the few European leaders to maintain contact with Moscow during its conflict with Kiev, said the communication system in Russian society was significantly different from the one in the EU.

“Sometimes we, Western European decision-makers, do not take this into account” when dealing with Moscow, he stated.

The Hungarian prime minister cautioned that “if the [Russian] president says something, it is not chatter, it has weight and consequences.”

He added that politics in the West is 80% talk and just 20% action, with even the most high-ranking officials often making statements that are not followed by concrete moves.

It is not like that in Russia, he explained, warning that Putin’s words must be taken seriously and interpreted in the logic of war.

Orban urged the nations that are supporting Ukraine in the conflict to “act out of common sense or there might be problems.”

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the US “will not be deterred” by what Moscow described as a “combat test” of its new intermediate-range ballistic missile. “We will continue to ensure that Ukrainians have what they need on the ground,” she said.

On Thursday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also called on the West to heed Putin’s warnings. “If you think you can attack everything on Russian territory with Western logistics and weapons without getting a response, and that Putin will not use whatever weapons he deems necessary, then you either don’t know him or you’re abnormal,” Vucic said.