Has World War III Already Begun? Kremlin Insider Claims Battle in ‘Fifth Phase,’ Outcome Uncertain

World War III is now in its "fifth phase," according to a Kremlin insider.

Anatoly Wasserman, a Russian State Duma deputy and a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, made this claim in an interview with the Kremlin-backed news outlet Moskovskij Komsomolets, the Daily Star reported.

He asserted that World War III is already underway and has reached its fifth phase.

Wasserman did not provide detailed explanations about the first four phases. However, he mentioned that the fourth phase ended with Putin's speech in Munich in 2007, implying that the conflict has been ongoing for at least 16 years.

He explained, "Before the fifth phase, there was a fourth. This period that we called perestroika, and then the Yeltsin era began. Officially, the fourth phase of the world war ended with Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech in 2007, when he, in essence, declared that our opponents were behaving in a completely unacceptable manner not only for us, but for the entire world.”

From this moment, the current fifth phase actually began, initially taking place only as a proxy war. Now, this phase has escalated to a level where the Russian Federation is forced to confront one of the proxies directly – Ukraine. People today see that nothing particularly dangerous is expected in the next three months. But what will happen next is unknown. I hope that it will not lead to a direct clash between the United States, any NATO member, and Russia. Unfortunately, this is something we can hope for but cannot count on."

Wasserman went on to say that was the moment that the current fifth phase actually began. He said it started out “only in the format of a proxy war,” but now the phase has “reached the level where the Russian Federation is forced to collide directly with one of the proxies — Ukraine.”

He said that people are seeing nothing particularly dangerous expected in the next three months. However, what happens next is unknown. He hopes “that it will not come to a direct clash between the United States and any NATO member and Russia.”

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He added that is “one of those things that you can hope for, but cannot count on.”

Putin's 2007 speech is often viewed as the moment he fully embraced his authoritarian stance. During his address, he criticized NATO, the United States, Europe, and more. This speech is also seen as a catalyst for the 2014 invasion of Donbas, which eventually led to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.