London: Vladimir Putin says the world risks spiralling into “all against all” conflict, as the Russian President faces fresh pressure over the attempted assassination and imprisonment of his main political rival.
Speaking to the World Economic Forum, Putin warned the coronavirus pandemic and widening economic inequality had created parallels to the 1930s and said a failure to deal with those tensions helped spark World War II.
“Nowadays such a heated conflict is not possible. I hope it is not possible in principle because it would mean the end of our civilisation,” Putin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to improve relations with Europe.Credit:AP
“However the situation might develop unpredictably and uncontrollably if we sit on our hands doing nothing to avoid it.
“There is a possibility we may experience a natural collapse of global development that might result in a fight of all against all.”
Putin – who has been accused of repeatedly breaching international laws, bearing ultimate responsibility for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and sanctioning a recent nerve agent attack against chief Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny – said international institutions were weakened and the global security system in the process of “degrading”.
People clash with police on Saturday during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.Credit:AP
Wendy Morton, the British government’s Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told Parliament there would be “no normalisation” of relations while Russia destabilised the UK and western allies.
US President Joe Biden raised concerns about the jailing of Navalny during the first phone call between both leaders on Tuesday.
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