Vladimir Putin’s Deputy Warns The West: ‘Tanks Don’t Need Visas’

As Moscow continues to flex its military muscle, Vladimir Putin’s second in command has taunted the West with a chilling warning that “Tanks don’t need visas.”

Deputy Premier Dmitry Rogozin is one of Vladimir Putin’s most trusted aides and is tipped by some to pick up the reins of power when Putin steps down.

The man considered by many in power as a future Kremlin president is every inch as devoted to his mother country as Putin, and like Putin, Rogozin appears obsessed with furthering Russian interests by any means necessary.

Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of Russia’s space and defence industries, has a long history of outspoken and often inflammatory outbursts. In May of last year, Romania allegedly forbid Putin’s deputy from entering their airspace, prompting Rogozin to vent his spleen on Twitter in a series of threatening posts, one of which stated that the next time he returned to Romanian airspace would be in a Tu-160 bomber.

Rogozin, who also became one of the first seven persons who were put by President Obama under executive sanctions to freeze his assets in the U.S. and stop him entering the United States, has previously gone on record stating that the sale of Alaska was a “betrayal of Russian power status” and that Russia should also have the “right to reclaim our lost colonies.”

With tensions between the West and Russia escalating, Rogozin’s latest mocking remark to the West that “tanks don’t need visas” is certain to fan the flames further.

Claiming that America and Europe are afraid of Russia and declaring Putin’s intent to exploit the vast mineral riches beneath the Arctic ice, Rogozin bragged to a TV show that Russia would develop “our huge EurAsia.”

International bodies have yet to approve Russia’s ownership of the natural resources in the Arctic, but Rogozin makes no bones about which country he feels has rights to it, and his contempt for any sanctions from the West.

“It is our territory, it is our shelf, and we’ll provide its security. And we will make money there.

“I have always joked about it, that they will not give us visas.They will put us on a sanctions list – but tanks do not need visas.”

Stating that the Arctic would be a scene of “serious economic collisions in the 21st century,” The Mirror reports that Putin’s deputy told Russian TV viewers that Russia should not fear any other country when it comes to furthering their own interests.

“We should not look at anybody or be offended, we should just go. We are one big Armata.

“Our nuclear shield is strong, it is so strong that I would say it is more powerful than anyone else’s.This is why Russia today can ensure its strategic security, not only going face to face with the USA, but also face to face with the whole Western coalition.”

(Image By Sean Gallup/Getty Images)