Russian Opposition Politician Says Putin ‘Crazy Enough’ To Use Nuclear Weapons And ‘Destroy The World’

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A prominent opposition leader in Russia says that Vladimir Putin will “destroy the world” if left unchecked, adding that global leaders should prepare for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in the current war.

Leonid Volkov, former chief of staff of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny, issued a chilling warning about Putin’s plans and said he wanted his fellow Russians to make it clear that this was “not our war”.

Navalny, who had accused Putin of corruption, was poisoned and assaulted a number of times for his opposition. in 2020 he was poisoned with a nerve agent, apparently by Russian government agents, and nearly died as a result. Russian prosecutors refused to open an official criminal investigation of the poisoning, claiming they found no sign that a crime had been committed, and the Kremlin denied involvement in the poisoning of Navalny. The opposition leader was later arrested and sentenced to a 2.5 year jail sentence.

Volkov, a Jewish politician and IT specialist who was active among Russian dissenters, said that Putin was “crazy enough” to use nuclear weapons as the conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate. He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that “It is now very clear that enormous cost has to be paid to stop this war. There are all the sanctions, of course, they also create a burden on the European economy that is quite clear. But this cost has to be paid because otherwise Putin will just destroy the world.”

When asked about possible use of nuclear weapons, Volkov replied that “as Putin is crazy enough, we can unfortunately expect everything.”

In the wake of Russia’s alleged use of internationally banned phosphorus bombs in a Sunday attack, Polish president Andrzej Duda warned that Putin could use “anything” including chemical weapons.

Duda told the BBC’s Sunday Morning program that : “This is something that the world has not seen on this scale since the Second World War.

“If you’re asking can Putin use chemical weapons, I think that Putin can use anything right now, especially because he’s in a very difficult situation.”