U.S. Ukraine Policy Could Spark World War 3; Putin Critic Urges West to Go Easy on Russians

The U.S. Congress has authorised President Barack Obama to support Ukraine militarily on its fight against Russia, an action that a new report said will serve as pretext to start World War III against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Moscow has labelled the Ukraine Freedom Support Act that translates to roughly $350 million of military hardware aid to Kiev as a way to pressure the Kremlin that will amount to nothing.

War is imminent?

In a blog post by the Centre for Research on Globalisation, Washington is accused of using the Ukraine crisis as valid excuse to confront Russia. Obama's plan is backed by the overwhelming majority of the U.S. Congress, the article claimed, citing reports filed by Russian media outlets.

"Washington isn't out to help the Ukrainian people; it's solely using Ukraine as a launching-pad for WW III against Russia," the article written by Eric Zuesse, adding that the U.S. is in effect endangering the lives of Ukrainians opposed to Kiev.

Zuesse also pointed to numerous reports of military hardware unloading made by American planes on civilian airports around Ukraine though these claims remain unconfirmed.

Futile attempts

In Rome, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the White House's latest move on the Ukrainian issue as a form of unnecessary pressure on the Kremlin. Lavrov issued the remarks following his meeting in Italy with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, according to RT.com.

"When discussing bilateral relations Lavrov stressed that their development is possible only on the basis of equality and mutual interests, while any attempts to pressure Russia have no prospect," the news site quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry statement as saying.

Lavrov reasserted too that the resolution of the crisis in Ukraine will greatly depend on "the consistent implementation of the Minsk agreements," the 12 protocols of which are headlined by the immediate implementation of a bilateral ceasefire.

Punish Putin not the Russians

In a related development, former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has acknowledged that a new Cold War is already upon us and Russia under Putin "has once again opened up Pandora's box and unleashed a threat that has already laid waste to the European continent many times before."

Following his criticism of Putin, Khodorkovsky was arrested, sent to prison in 2003 and only recently released. According to The Huffington Post, he now leads a movement to restore democracy in Russia that will only be made possible by toppling the Russian leader.

In a recent speech republished in the online news site, Khodorkovsky opposed escalating the already tense situation in Europe, arguing that "war cannot be a way of resolving territorial disputes in Europe."

To deal with Putin effectively, Khodorkovsky stressed that the West needs to understand "that Russia and Putin are not one and the same thing."

Supporting and protecting the inner Russian opposition against Putin is a good place to start in the quest to rid the Kremlin of its corrupt and authoritarian leaders, the one-time Russian billionaire said, asserting that "the Russian people must not be pushed away from Europe."

Khodorkovsky also offered that the situation in Ukraine is really "about the interests of a group of people who have seized power in Russia."