Russia’s ‘good’ final result for the subsequent 25 years would involve using nuclear weapons, based on a report.
The country’s annual economic forum kicked off on Wednesday in St Petersburg, attended by Vladimir Putin and business heavyweights from across the globe.
Presenting on the conference was Konstantin Malofeev, founding father of the Russian Orthodox media network Tsargrad, who presented a ‘Russia 2050’ report with three possible scenarios.
The ‘good’ scenario involves Russia ‘obtaining a transparent image of victory within the ideological war’ using nuclear weapons, annexing Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv ‘and so forth,’ and seeing the European Union crumble.
A ‘bad’ scenario would see Russia lose its war in Ukraine and be ‘colonised’ by 2050, while an ‘inertial’ result would end in ‘American and Chinese hegemony’ and would see Russia use nuclear weapons by 2036.
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Malofeev has vocally supported the annexation of Crimea and has funded efforts to destabilise Ukraine, including Russia’s 2014 Donbas operation.
He’s sanctioned by the UK for ‘acting in support of the destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine’, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) says he has faced a criminal investigation into his alleged support to separatists within the region.
Malofeev was joined onstage by Alexander Dugin, co-author of the report who can also be sanctioned by the UK, US and EU.
The FCDO says he ‘is or has been involved in destabilising Ukraine by being chargeable for, engaging in, providing support for, or promoting any policy or motion which destabilises Ukraine or undermines or threatens the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine.’
Dugin told audiences on the summit that the unpublished report had already been presented on the Russian Ministry of Defence’s General Staff Academy.
It comes after St Petersburg was attacked in a Ukrainian drone strike the night before the economic forum began.
Town’s governor, Alexander Beglov, said ‘infrastructure objects’ in three districts of the town had been hit on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drones had struck several ‘military targets’, including the Petersburg Oil Terminal ‘which serves the war’ and ‘an enterprise within the Tambov region involved within the production of Russian weapons’.
In a post to X, he said: ‘Essential facilities on Russian territory were hit last night.
‘I thank our warriors for his or her precision. Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer. Glory to Ukraine!’
Beglov confirmed in a post on Telegram that clean-up efforts are underway and that several people had been injured, but there have been no fatalities because of this of last night’s strike.
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