Russian Duma chairman Sergey Naryshkin gave a lengthy interview to Izvestiya, published on July 30, on the occasion of the Guns of August anniversary—the August 1, 1914 Russian entry into the First World War on the side of Serbia—in which he warned starkly that “a Third World War would be mankind’s last.”
“If the logic of the Cold War is imposed on us, then we have to respond appropriately. And one should be very careful in using words such as `redividing the world’ or `Third World War.’ Both in our country and abroad. A Third World War would be mankind’s last. And the strengthening of Russia’s defense capabilities, including the funding decisions the Duma makes, is intended precisely to avert such a war.”
In its coverage of the Naryshkin interview, RT elaborated that “the top Russian MP also blasted the attempts to revive neo-colonial policy in the modern world,” and said this was in part due to the “weak reaction to crimes against peace and humanity and due to toleration of fascist and racist ideologies.” RT quotes Naryshkin saying: “Many military conflicts started with the silent connivance to the ideas of one people’s superiority over others…The major Western countries prefer not to notice that, just as they try not to notice neo- Nazi trends and the glorification of HItler’s collaborators.”
According to RT, Naryshkin stated that “the deal suggested by the European Union to Ukraine—to bear obligations without having any rights—can only be described as a colonial status.” He completely ruled out the possibility of returning Crimea to Ukraine, and held out the possibility, as Russian officials have in the past, of “a merger between two regional unions—the Eurasian Economic Union and European Union… [since Russia] has always been and will always remain in the common family of European people.”