Is Vladimir Putin desperate? That’s the question, a day after he unleashed some of the nastiest attacks of the war in Ukraine yet. The Russian President said it was to retaliate for Ukraine’s attack on the Kerch bridge over the weekend.
So what’s Putin’s end game? According to experts that have studied the unhinged leader for years, he’s no longer trying to win the war. Instead, they believe his movies are not to lose it so visibly.
Here’s his problem. He annexed regions in Ukraine, and then his military was driven out f some of the areas. So he faces the dubious distinction of being the leader with Russian territory taken from him under his watch.
That would be humiliating for someone like Putin. Another mistake he made, the experts say, is the mobilization of an additional 300,0000 untrained citizens to go to the front lines, which means the entire country is vested in this battle now. Many people are not happy with their leader because of the massive amount of casualties that will indeed be sent home in body bags.
Ukraine’s military has been enforced by billions of dollars in cash and first-rate modern war-fighting machinery from the West. Russia’s unmotivated army is working with shoddy equipment thanks to years of corrupt officials stealing money meant to go to maintenance.
Mark Galeotti is an honorary professor at the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He’s an expert and has written 24 books on Russia. He also wrote the biography of Putin and knew him well. He contributed a story to the Daily Mail saying the world should be worried. Putin is cornered and desperate, with self-preservation first and foremost on his mind.
One thing Galeotti believes Putin could do is to go next level on the cyber warfare front and try to disrupt the world’s banking system.
He also believes Putin will interfere in the upcoming midterm elections in the United States. One thing he has not done yet, Galeotti tells the Daily Mail, is bomb supply lines bringing weapons to the Ukraine army because he knows the Nato response would be fierce.
The bottom line is that Putin is a cornered rat, impossible to predict but capable and clearly willing to create more carnage.
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