Russian State TV Pundit Says Either 'We Win or There Will Be WWIII'

A pro-Vladimir Putin propagandist has declared on state TV that Russia must win its war in Ukraine or World War III will happen.

Margarita Simonyan, head of RT, suggested that a major new conflict could occur should Kyiv take back Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Samoyed said: "In their view (the West and Ukraine), Russia's victory means for Russia to retain at least something, including Crimea.

"They believe that Ukraine should take it all. Donbas, the Kherson region, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea as well, that would suit them. Other options don't suit them. World War 3 doesn't suit them either."

She later added: "Either we win in the way we consider our victory, or there will be World War III, sooner or later. I don't see any other way."

The comments were shared on Twitter by Julia Davis, creator of the Russian Media Monitor, and have been viewed more than 267,100 times since being shared on Saturday, November 3.

Russia annexed four regions of Ukraine following a decree signed by Putin on September 30 after citizens there were said to have voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the country.

But the U.S. State Department, as well as the majority of Western leaders, have called the process a "sham."

None of the regions annexed by Russia, with the exception of Crimea, are under full Russian control as Ukrainian forces continue to push further east.

During the exchange, Simonyan also claimed that Russian troops had taken the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and dismissed claims that Putin would deploy a tactical nuclear weapon in the country.

She said: "This is something that is totally ruled out for several reasons. The secondary reason, it's totally senseless, it wouldn't solve anything because we already defeated Kyiv during the first week.

"We were already in Hostomel (part of the greater Kyiv region) and everywhere else. We practically took it, right? I know the servicemen who were there and they are horrified that they were ordered to leave."

While Russian forces did successfully capture several towns close to the capital, at no point did they take Kyiv and ultimately withdrew from the region in April.

But Simonyan had no issue with deploying nuclear weapons in the West, adding: "Since March, we aren't fighting against Kyiv, we're fighting against the West. So, why the heck would we nuke Kyiv? We aren't waging war against Kyiv.

"It's totally ruled out, we never bombed Kyiv, because of the main reason our holy sites are located in Kyiv."

She added: "But in Washington or London, we have no holy sites. Not one of our holy sites [is] either there or in Berlin.

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.