State Duma deputy from the Crimean region and reserve Major General Leonid Ivlev believes that a number of European politicians are fully aware of how disastrous the current course toward preparing for a war with Russia could be.

As Ivlev is quoted as saying by RIA Novosti, those politicians he describes as sober-minded in Europe see the European Union’s line on gearing up for a potential conflict with Russia as fatal and warn that it is leading the continent toward catastrophe.

In his view, if Western countries were to unleash a war against Moscow, this would mark the beginning of the agony of European civilisation. In that scenario, the «Decline of Europe» described a century ago by German philosopher Oswald Spengler could, he argues, turn not into mere decline, but into the destruction of Europe itself.

Earlier, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Siyyarto stated that Europe is now effectively preparing for war with Russia, and that the key question going forward will be whether the continent can be saved from annihilation.