the times | Wednesday May 25 2022 19
News
The invasion of Ukraine may spark a
Third World War, George Soros, the
international investor and philanthro-
pist, has warned.
Speaking at his annual dinner at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, the
billionaire warned that “the invasion
may have been the beginning of the
Third World War and our civilisation
may not survive it”.
He said: “The invasion of Ukraine
didn’t come out of the blue. The world
has been increasingly engaged in a
struggle between two systems of gov-
ernance that are diametrically opposed
to each other: open society and closed
society.”
President Putin, he said, appeared to
have recognised that he made a terrible
mistake when he invaded Ukraine and
was “now preparing the ground for ne-
gotiating a ceasefire” but the ceasefire
was unattainable “because he cannot
be trusted”.
However, “the weaker Putin gets, the
more unpredictable he becomes”, Soros
added. European leaders “feel the pres-
sure” as they realise “Putin may not
wait until they develop alternative
sources of energy” but could “turn off
the taps on gas while it really hurts”.
Europe’s cohesion “faces a severe test,
but if it continues to maintain its unity,
it could strengthen Europe’s energy
security and leadership on climate”.
Soros also used his speech to attack
the policies pursued by Angela Merkel,
the former chancellor of Germany,
which he said had left Europe depend-
ent on Russian fossil fuels.
“She had made special deals withRussia and China bomber
flypast taunts summit
Richard Lloyd Parry To k y oRussian and Chinese bombers flew
together in a military exercise over the
Sea of Japan as the leaders of Japan,
India, Australia and the United
States met in Tokyo to denounce
international aggression.
The air exercises were the first joint
manoeuvres by the two countries since
Russia invaded Ukraine. They suggest
that relations between Moscow and
Beijing are still strong, despite specula-
tion that China had been surprised or
angered by Russia’s actions.
Russia’s Tass news agency said Rus-
sian Tu-95MS and Chinese H-6K air-
craft flew in a 13-hour patrol. The stra-
tegic bombers, which can carry nuclear
weapons, were escorted by Russian
Su-30SM fighters and trailed by South
Korean and Japanese military jets.
Japan and South Korea confirmed
that they scrambled fighter jets after
the Chinese and Russian flight entered
their air defence identification zones,
although they did not violate their
territorial airspace.
Nobuo Kishi, Japan’s defence minis-
ter, said: “We believe the fact that this
action was taken during the Quad sum-
mit makes it more provocative than in
the past.” His government had con-
veyed “grave concerns” to Moscow and
Beijing, and he said that this was the
fourth such incident since November.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minis-Portsmouth yesterday on its latest Nato deployment. Lithuania has proposed a naval escort for grain ships in the Black Sea
opponent in Russia, Navalny was
detained after he flew home from
Germany following treatment for a
near-fatal nerve agent attack in Siberia
in August 2020, which has been blamed
on the Kremlin.
He was initially jailed for 30 months
for breaking bail conditions while being
treated in hospital, before being given
an extra nine years for fraud and con-
tempt of court; a ruling widely seen as
politically motivated.
In response to an appeal by his law-
yers, a Moscow court ruled to “leave the
sentence without changes” and for it to
enter into force immediately.
The opposition leader used the rare
public appearance to denounce his trialAlexei Navalny has said that the judge
who sent him to prison last year told
him she regretted her ruling and later
died in suspicious circumstances.
The Russian opposition leader made
the claim during a court hearing yester-
day in which he lost his legal appeal
against a nine-year prison sentence.
Navalny, 45, who is already serving a
two-and-a-half year term, said he is
willing to sit in jail “to prove that not
everyone in Russia is like” Putin. He
will be transferred to a strict-regime pe-
nal colony which critics say is notorious
for prisoners being tortured and killed.
Appearing via video link, Navalny
said that Natalya Repnikova, 50, the
judge who replaced his suspended sen-
tence with jail time in February last
year, communicated through her law-
yer friends that she was “sorry about
her decision and her part in it and that
she thought I was a brave man”.
He added: “Shortly after that she died
of Covid. I don’t want to speculate, but
she didn’t strike me as someone in a
high-risk group. So if any judges want to
pass on a word to me — and they will —
please be careful so that you don’t end up
seeing forensic experts at your doorstep.”
Long seen as Putin’s most dangerous
News
Third World War
may have begun,
Soros tells Davos
Richard Fletcher Business Editor
DavosRussia for the supply of gas and made
China Germany’s largest export
market. That made Germany the best
performing economy in Europe but
now there is a heavy price to pay.”
He praised Olaf Scholz, Merkel’s suc-
cessor, because he “always seems to do
the right thing in the end” — from
breaking the traditions of Social Demo-
crats to abandoning Nordstream 2,
committing €100 billion to defence and
providing arms for Ukraine.
Soros singled out Mario Draghi, the
Italian prime minister, as “more coura-
geous” for taking a strong line against
Putin “although Italy’s gas dependency
is almost as high as Germany’s”.
He also argued that Ukraine, Moldo-
va and the Western Balkans should
qualify for EU membership.
The world is facing a “global depres-
sion”, he said, warning that the damage
from China’s real estate crisis and sup-
ply chain disruptions “will be so great
that it will affect the global economy”.
He also used his speech to attack the
leaders of China and Russia.
“What do the two dictators, Vladimir
Putin and Xi Jinping have to show for
themselves?” he asked. “They are tied
together in an alliance that has no lim-
its. They also have a lot in common.
They rule by intimidation, and as a con-
sequence they make mind-boggling
mistakes. Putin expected to be wel-
comed in Ukraine as a liberator; Xi
Jinping is sticking to a zero-Covid
policy that can’t possibly be sustained.”
President Xi’s Covid-19 policy meant
that the Chinese leader was “bound to
fail”, he argued, having “driven Shang-
hai to the verge of open rebellion”, with
the lockdowns pushing the Chinese
economy into “free fall”.SHAUN ROSTER/SWNSJudge regretted jailing me, says Navalny
as “meaningless”. He told the judge: “I
despise your court, your system. It’s
you, your system and Putin who are
traitors against the Russian people. I
am ready to sit in jail to prove that not
everyone in Russia is like this.”
He condemned the war as stupid, and
predicted that Russia would suffer a
“historic defeat”.
Olga Mikhailova, his lawyer, told the
court the sentence should be annulled
as it is “unjust” and “contradicts inter-
national law”. After the ruling she said
his legal team would appeal to the
country’s constitutional court, focusing
on the risk to Navalny of moving to a
strict-regime colony. “Alexei often said
there was a threat to his life,” she said.
Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secre-
tary, tweeted that “the place where he is
to be transferred is notorious for its
prisoners being tortured and killed”.
Navalny wrote on Telegram earlier
this month that he had heard Penal
Colony No 6, in the town of Melekhovo,
east of Moscow, was being prepared for
his arrival. The location of the colony
will be announced only after his transfer.
Mikhailova warned that Navalny
faces further criminal cases and while
there have been “masses of inter-
national court rulings” in his favour,
“nothing works, he’s still not freed”.Tom Ball
Alexei Navalny, who appeared in court
via video link, fears a threat to his lifeter, said his country intended to develop
its relations with China further, in a
strategic shift away from the West.
“Now that the West has taken a
‘dictator’s position’, our economic ties
with China will grow even faster,” he
said in Moscow, in remarks that were
quoted on the website of Russia’s
foreign ministry.
Japan went on high alert this year
after a huge increase in Russian naval
activity around its islands, adding to
insecurity about the country’svulnerability to its authoritarian neigh-
bours. According to data from Japan’s
self-defence forces, 57 ships of the
Russian navy sailed through waters
close to Japan in February and March
of this year alone, more than the total
for the previous ten years combined.
Some appear to be heading to the war
in Ukraine, but they are also intended
as a warning to Japan as it adopts a
tough diplomatic line towards Moscow.
The anguish is all Xi’s in the Putin
bromance, Roger Boyes, page 28A Russian Tu-95 bomber over the East
China Sea in a picture taken by Japan