World War 3: Russia SHOCK warning – expulsion of diplomats could lead to WAR (Source express.co.uk)

WORLD WAR 3 could be sparked between the West and Russia following the expulsion of over 100 Russian diplomats after the country was blamed for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council – established by the Kremlin – insisted that cutting off communications between Russia and the West could have devastating consequences. Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Kortunov said: “By cutting these channel of communication, we increase risks of miscalculation. “Maybe not clear interpretation of intentions of the other side. And basically, here it increases the dangers of inadvertent escalation or even a war. “So, again, in my personal opinion, the expulsion of diplomats is not the best way to deal with the crisis because if we don’t talk to each other – how can we handle the crisis?

But former US ambassador to Russia Professor Michael McFaul warned there are new elements to Russia’s actions which make it “even more dangerous” than a Cold War.

The former US ambassador listed Russia’s “tremendous capabilities” including its cyber and even economic powers and its military. But he warned that Vladimir Putin is even less constrained than his predecessors. Mr McFaul said: “There is also an ideological dimension between the stand-off between Putinism and his autocratic ways and the democratic west. “Third, and I think most disturbingly, Putin seems less constrained by some informal rules of the game that kind of did constrain behaviour between the Soviet Union and the West during the Cold War.