George Soros, the Holocaust survivor and billionaire, warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are the two world leaders who pose the greatest threat to society. 

The 91-year-old Hungarian-born, who lived through the Nazi occupation of his home country also warned that repressive regimes were on the rise.

Soros was speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos on Tuesday when he warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to a third world war, which would bring the end of humankind. “Other issues that concern all of humanity — fighting pandemics and climate change, avoiding nuclear war, maintaining global institutions — have had to take a back seat to that struggle”, Bloomberg reported him saying. 

Also Read | A new Axis? What Russia stands to gain from closer ties with China

The philanthropist added, “That’s why I say our civilization may not survive” while slamming Xi and Putin for their respective mistakes. 

Soros said, “Putin expected to be welcomed in Ukraine as a liberator”, referring to the special military operation launched on February 24, when the Russian president had vowed to “denazify” Ukraine. However, since then, he’s faced stiff resistance and has had to change military tactics accordingly. 

He pointed out Xi’s error in handling China’s COVID situation, saying “Xi Jinping is sticking to a Zero Covid policy that can’t possibly be sustained”. Soros also warned that China’s continued COVID-related lockdowns would end up disrupting supply chains and leading to higher inflation levels. 

Also Read | Why China views Quad as the ‘Asian NATO’

With the conflict in Ukraine also leading to economic disruptions, Soros pointed out that we face a greater risk of economic depression.  

The billionaire also expressed concerns about China using artificial intelligence to assert control over citizens, saying “AI is particularly good at producing instruments of control that help repressive regimes and endanger open societies”, and added, “COVID-19 also helped legitimize instruments of control because they are really useful in dealing with the virus”.