VLADIMIR Putin is being pushed closer and closer towards a last-ditch attack on Nato as he fights to save face in Russia, an expert has warned.
Putin is facing a string of worrying crises on his doorstep with his national support beginning to wane, the Kremlin’s cash dwindling and the war with Ukraine now at an embarrassing stalemate for the despot.
With his back against the wall, Putin could choose to risk it all and attempt a World War Three-stoking attack on a Nato nation, according to longtime Kremlin critic and Brit banker Bill Browder.
The gamble would aim to test who is truly on Ukraine‘s side and would be aimed at the US with Russia hoping they would avoid being drawn into a conflict despite Article 5 of the Nato treaty.
One theory is Putin could grab a city in Poland, or one of the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all Nato nations which have strongly backed Ukraine during the war.
A new US intelligence report even revealed this week that US officials fear Putin is plotting a small-scale land incursion to test the alliance.
Bill told The Sun: “Putin has reached a stalemate in his war with Ukraine. It’s been going on for more than four years, and he’s unable to gain more territory.
“He’s losing between 1,000 to 1,500 troops a day. His oil refineries and warehouses of online retailers are being bombed by the Ukrainians.
“And the Ukrainians are developing more and more sophisticated weapons so they’ve reached a stalemate – and, of course, he’s short on money.”
Russia’s faltering economy is one of the biggest issues hampering the war, he says.
Ukraine’s relentless strikes have focused on hitting key economic areas such as warehouses owned by Wildberries – known as Russia’s Amazon – and gas and oil sites, leaving huge parts of the nation cash-strapped.
This directly impacts the battlefield too, as Putin is known to recruit troops to fight in Ukraine by promising to pay them good money.
Bill said: “Russia is in a very weak position because they need to replenish their soldiers to carry on the war.
“But money is what Putin uses to hire more troops as he pays them to go to the frontline.”
Despite this, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has already warned Putin is preparing for a mass mobilisation in the coming months.
Earlier this week, he said Russia is planning a “rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year”.
One way the Kremlin could achieve such a major uptake in fighters is to stop paying troops and instead make fighting in Ukraine mandatory.
Bill continued: “There are very strong rumours that Russia will impose a full conscription which means that all young men between a certain age will be required to go and fight in the war.
“If that happens, it will be enormously unpopular. It will bring the war home to every household in Russia.
“And that’s the dilemma that Putin is facing right now.”
Putin’s recruitment drive has raised fears he may be looking to pull off a major operation in order to gain back some control in Europe after months of dwindling success.
Bill warns there is one possible last-ditch plan Putin could try to win the war.
He said: “If Putin can’t get more troops because he doesn’t have the money then he’s in a bind.
“And so what does he do in this bind? Well, the one thing he could do is test whether Article 5 of Nato is real.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16835344/putin-risks-ww3-nato-attack/
