The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, MP Oleksandr Merezhko, believes that World War III has already begun, but in a hybrid format.
In an interview with LB.ua, he said that the format is hybrid because the parties are not only fighting hot wars, such as Russia's aggression against Ukraine, but are also fighting in cyberspace, in the field of high technology, economy and trade. This is a struggle between, as US President Joe Biden says, the world of democracies and autocracies.
According to Merezhko, the enemy camp includes China.
"Its president, Xi Jinping, wants it to become a global leader, first economically and then politically. China is already openly declaring its ambitions and acting as the so-called leader of the Global South. Its junior partner, if not vassal, is Russia, which the Chinese need because of its vast resources," he said.
Also, according to Merezhko, the hostile camp includes North Korea, Belarus, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the new "axis of evil". According to Merezhko, they are trying to undermine the existing liberal order based on international law. They seek to sow as much chaos in international relations as possible, and then destroy the coalition of democratic countries and their transatlantic solidarity. These states have their allies in the West, in Europe in particular, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Orban.
"We are now in a situation that is very similar to the events before the First World War, when the international balance that existed then collapsed, and two hostile camps emerged instead. There is no balance now, there are two opposing coalitions again. The war is on, and it is global, and the Russian-Ukrainian war is part of this great confrontation," he said.