Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images
A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia would lead to the collapse of the Moscow empire, billionaire fund manager George Soros said at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday.
In a prepared speech, the Hungarian-born investor and founder of the advocacy network Open Society Foundations said that a third world war “must be avoided at all costs” and “Europe’s support for Ukraine must be maintained”.
Noting that US President Joe Biden’s administration is supplying Ukraine with weapons such as missiles, tanks and ammunition needed to withstand a Russian attack, he noted that opposition from the now Republican-led House of Representatives is “another large bipartisan financing package from the USA makes it unlikely.”
Russian private paramilitary contractor Wagner Group has been active on the ground in Ukraine, but its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin recently said current efforts to encircle Ukrainian forces in the town of Bakhmut are being hampered by Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy,” fueling divisions between Wagner and strengthened the Kremlin.
Taking a two- to three-year perspective on Russia securing control of eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region, Prigozhin said of Bakhmut in a recent interview that “there are many ways out and fewer ways in.”
“It’s possible that he [Prigozhin] will succeed, but I think it is unlikely because the Ukrainian army is putting up strong resistance and as soon as Ukraine can use the promised weapons, the tide will turn,” Soros said.
“This gives Ukraine a tight window of opportunity later this spring, when it receives the promised weapons, to launch a counterattack that would determine the fate of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Soros also hinted that the countries of the former Soviet Union “can’t wait” to see Russia defeated in Ukraine as they “kept to assert their independence.”
“This means that a Ukrainian victory would lead to the dissolution of the Russian empire. Russia would no longer be a threat to Europe and the world,” he said.
“That would be a big change for the better. It would relieve open societies enormously and pose enormous problems for closed ones.”
Confirming Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be planning an imminent coup against her country, Soros also warned that this threat would be carried out “before the anniversary” of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2018 could. 24
Comments are closed.