General Sir Richard Shirreff, whose military career spanned nearly four decades, believes we are on the verge of World War 3 – and the expert, now an author, has explained why
World War Three will begin in just two years’ time, warns a former British Army officer.
General Sir Richard Shirreff believes Vladimir Putin will only use the Ukraine ceasefire, agreed this week after a long conversation with Donald Trump, to rebuild his forces and get ready for all-out war with the West. Gen Sir Shirreff, who was in the military for nearly four decades until 2014, has urged the UK to prepare now for such conflict – or suffer the dire consequences.
He wrote: “We don’t yet know all the details of the deal with Russia. But one thing is certain: when the Kremlin is ready, Russia will renege in the most bloodthirsty fashion. I predict there will be war in two years at the outside, unless we do what is needed to deter Russia. What dictates whether the West can survive is how well prepared we are.”
The Russian president has made it clear he does not intend to be rushed. Mr Putin last month showed he was resolutely opposed to the US two-stage strategy of seeking an interim ceasefire before talking about a longer-term settlement.
READ MORE: What WW3 could look like in Britain as MP warns ‘you will be conscripted’
Last weekend, Mr Trump admitted that when he promised to end the Ukraine war in a day, he was “being a little bit sarcastic”. It now seems he is making slower progress than Team Trump may have anticipated.
Writing for Mail Online, Gen Sir Shirreff added: “Putin proved he cares nothing for the lives of Westerners when he ordered the assassination of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury seven years ago, using a weapons-grade nerve agent.
“Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived but an innocent Briton was killed and a policeman suffered life-changing harm. The death toll could easily have been in the tens of thousands in the quiet cathedral city of Salisbury. Western politicians have to work on the basis that, intentionally or not, Trump is effectively a Russian asset.
“Some sort of European peace enforcement presence will need to be in Ukraine, without active US involvement, but Russia will strongly resist any front line presence. Wherever the border is drawn between free Ukraine and the annexed territories, Putin will never agree to having Nato troops on his doorstep.”
Only this week it emerged Russian agents researched fire protocols at a factory owned by a German arms firm shortly before it burst into flames last summer. Mr Putin’s saboteurs were seemingly trying to disrupt arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Yesterday, Russian trolls claimed on social media the Heathrow fire could have been a Mr Putin sabotage operation. One post on Kremlin-funded Readovka Telegram channel declared: “Petrov and Boshirov came to see the cathedral again.” The pair Alexander Petrov and Boshirov – real names Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin – were the notorious suspects in the Novichok poisonings of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018.
