Faced with the difficulties of his army in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin knows that he cannot win the war for the moment, but is convinced that he will win a final victory with wear and tear, refusing to consider any other option, analyzed CIA boss William Burns in an interview on Sunday.
• Read also: Putin warns NATO: ‘this is really participation’
• Read also: Russia accuses Westerners of ‘destabilizing’ G20 summit
• Read also: Ukraine: Wagner claims capture of village on northern outskirts of Bakhmout
“Putin, in my opinion, thinks today that he cannot win right away, but he cannot afford to lose,” the director of the American intelligence agency told CBS.
“Right now,” according to William Burns, “I think Putin is downright determined,” but “overconfident in his ability to wear down Ukraine.”
And instead of considering a way out, the Russian president is “persisting and signing” in his war, according to Mr. Burns, a former American ambassador to Moscow.
His meeting in November in Turkey with his Russian counterpart Sergei Naryshkin was “demoralizing”, he also said.
He says he saw “a form of imprudence, of excessive pride” in the boss of the SVR (external intelligence), met to warn him of any recourse to nuclear weapons, and not for negotiations, whose point departure “will be decided by the Ukrainians.”
