Russia have to be prepared for World War Three inside three years, pro-Putin MP declares

Russia must be ready for World War Three within three years, a pro-Putin MP has warned in the latest grave threat to Ukraine’s western allies.

Aleksey Zhuravlyov, deputy head of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, urged that while Russia has enough volunteers to fight, it must start to prepare the male population for a major confrontation with the West by 2028-29.

‘Europe explains to us that in 2028–2029 [it and its allies] will be ready to fight Russia,’ he assessed. ‘Here it is necessary to prepare the male population and, naturally, defend the Motherland. We must talk about this and not be ashamed of it.’

Responding to the comments, Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chair of the State Duma Defence Committee, firmly agreed with the assessment, telling Ridus that ‘every Russian must understand that in the event of external aggression, he must take up arms and defend the Motherland.’

He shied away from calling for immediate mobilisation, suggesting the threat was not yet a pressing issue.

War-mongering nationalist politician Zhuravlyov, 62, an MP for the nationalist so-called Liberal Democratic Party and a TV propagandist, is under Western sanctions for supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Russia has significantly expanded its military in the last 12 months, a move checked by Ukraine and its western allies.

Russia was able to boost the size of its army to 1.5 million active personnel in September 2024, making it the second largest in the world, per Russia media.

But the war in Ukraine has had an enormous toll on Russia’s manpower.

In a release published on January 2, 2025, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry assessed that Russia had suffered 430,790 casualties – deaths and wounded – in 2024.

In November, the WSJ reported that Russia had lost some 200,000 soldiers to the conflict so far.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration urged Ukraine to lower its age of conscription from 25 to 18 in November in order to boost the size of its military and stay in the fight with Russia. 

Europe has also responded to the perceived growing threat on its border by summoning more troops of its own.

A report by Der Spiegel in the summer said as many as 800,000 NATO soldiers from the security bloc could be hosted by Germany as they transit to posts further East.

Military chiefs in Britain were last year also planning the biggest mass mobilisation of reservists in 20 years, a move intended to test the ‘deployment readiness’ of more than 10,000 men.

Poland has been massively investing in its military since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, last year offering military training programmes for civilians to maximise combat readiness.

Putin has played up to his MP’s recurring threats of impending Armageddon.

The Russian dictator said in late December that a global conflict could erupt if the West continues ‘escalating the situation’.

‘You know, there is no need to scare anyone,’ he told a state TV reporter, caveating, ‘there are many dangers – they are increasing’. 

‘And we see what our enemy is doing today, escalating the situation. If they want to, let them live badly, let them escalate further.

‘We will always respond to any challenge, always,’ he said.

Putin glossed over his role in escalating conflict in Europe with the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead boasting of his personal role in the ‘historic’ development of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile.

In Europe, nations have begun the daunting process of preparing their citizens for the possibility of a long war.

Finland has reminded its citizens of their ‘national defence obligation’, while Sweden has laid out a detailed guide on how to seek shelter and what to do in case of a nuclear attack.

Their instruction manuals follow similar advice issued by their neighbours Norway and Denmark, which both put out checklists for food and medicine supplies citizens should have ready. 

More than five million Swedish households are being sent bright yellow booklets entitled ‘If Crisis or War Comes’. 

Meanwhile the Finnish government has published a digital booklet to prepare citizens for ‘incidents and crises.’ 

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the UK defence staff, warned in November that Britain simply does not have ‘some of the civil aspects or planning aspects’ that some other NATO allies ‘have as part of their traditions’. 

‘We are having those conversations to learn from our colleagues and see what might be appropriate for ourselves,’ he told an audience of representatives from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. 

While the British government offers advice on dealing with emergencies, many Cold War shelters and civil defence provisions have since been retired.