China giving Russia weapons and ammo ‘could lead to World War III’

China giving Russia weapons and ammo ‘could lead to World War III’

A prominent critic of Vladimir Putin has said China supplying arms to Russia could lead to World War III.

The US has suggested that China is considering handing weapons and ammunition to Russia for the Ukraine war – a claim Beijing has strongly denied.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last week that US intelligence suggests Chinese firms might send ‘lethal support’ to the Kremlin.

Beijing quickly brushed aside the suggestion as false and accused Washington of ‘finger-pointing’.

But whether this will happen is not clear-cut, Bill Browder, once the largest foreign investor in Russia and now an outspoken Kremlin critic, told Sky News.

‘Russia’s running out of arms,’ he told host Kay Burley this morning.

‘Russia used to be a big arms exporter but they’re in such bad shape they’ve had to go to the only two countries that are so sanctioned they don’t care – North Korea and Iran.

‘If China were to enter the game and give them weapons, that would be a game-changer for Russia. That would be terrible for Ukraine and it could lead to a third world war.’

But Browder raised his eyebrow at the likelihood of China actually flogging military supplies to Russia, stressing the nation ‘survives off of selling stuff’.

‘To us and many other people, if they all of a sudden were doing this nasty killing of Ukrainians – if we see an unexploded Chinese missile on the ground of Ukraine – that’s gonna lead to many people’s call for sanctions, economic counter-measures,’ he said.

‘And does China really want that, when that’s their economy? What’s in it for them, other than poking NATO, America and the UK in the eye.’

Browder said he isn’t surprised ‘at all’ the war is still dragging nearly a year on, with the one-year anniversary of the invasion tomorrow.

Now a brutal, bloody slog, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management said: ‘Neither side has any incentive to compromise in any way – Putin can’t.

‘For him, compromise or negotiation is a sign of weakness and weakness would mean putting him at risk of losing his power.

‘He’s committed so many gross atrocities, murders, rape, destruction of territory, that the Ukranians have no willingness to negotiate either.

‘So both sides are going to fight on.’

With neither side having a ‘military advantage’ over the other, Browder said he expects the war to keep ‘grinding on and on and on’.

‘It will go on until one side collapses or the other side collapses,’ Browder said, adding that Ukrainian soldiers could ‘physically’ push Russia out of the country to end the conflict.

That is why support for Ukraine from world leaders is both powerful and fragile, he said, noting that a simple change of government in the US could completely upend the playing field.

‘I can imagine we’ll be sitting here a year from now having the same conversation,’ Browder added.

Putin warmly welcomed China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, to Moscow yesterday in a clear sign the Kremlin is keen to keep Beijing in its corner.

‘Our relations have never been directed against third countries,’ Wang told Putin, per reports. ‘Our relations have withstood pressure from the international community and are developing very stably.’

The Russian president earlier said he was looking forward to meeting with his ‘friend’ Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, in Russia soon.

Though, Wang met with Putin after a week-long tour of western Europe in which he insisted to European leaders China is not supporting the president’s invasion.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said the two discussed the war, agreeing they had ‘the same objective of contributing to peace in line with international law.’

Amid fears of the war escalating, Blinken told Mega TV on Tuesday: ‘Well, we are certainly not talking about World War III. 

‘And what we want to do is not to broaden this war in any way but hopefully, bring it to an end.

‘But an end that is both just and durable.’

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