The deputy chairman of Russia’s security council has publicly claimed that Russia is running out of options and may resort to a full war with NATO. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, warned that this would lead to a third world war, which would have greater consequences than World War II.

The 58-year-old politician also accused NATO of being like Nazi Germany and the Axis powers. ‘It seems that Russia is being left with fewer and fewer options but to come into direct conflict on the ground with NATO,’ he said. The 74-year-old alliance ‘has become an openly fascist bloc like Hitler’s Axis, only bigger’, he claimed.

‘We are ready, although the result will be achieved at a much greater cost to humanity than in 1945.’ Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012, and was also the country’s longest serving prime minister, criticised Canada’s parliament for applauding a former member of the Nazi party.

Scores of Canadian politicians were seen applauding Yaroslav Hunka, 98, who had served with the First Ukrainian Division, known also as Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, during Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit on Friday.

Canadian House of Commons Speaker, Anthony Rota, has since expressed regret for inviting Hunka and praising him as a ‘hero’. He said in a statement:

‘I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them. ‘This initiative was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding and having been brought to my attention.’