Faced with his army’s difficulties in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin knows he cannot win the war for now, but is confident that with attrition he will achieve ultimate victory and refuses to consider any other option, CIA analyzed Boss William Burns in an interview on Sunday.
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“Today, in my opinion, Putin thinks he can’t win right away, but he can’t afford to lose,” the director of US intelligence told CBS.
“Right now,” said William Burns, “I think Putin is downright determined” but “cocky in his ability to wear Ukraine down.”
And instead of contemplating a way out, the Russian president is “persevering and signing off” on his war, according to Mr. Burns, a former US ambassador to Moscow.
His November meeting in Turkey with his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin was “demoralizing,” he said.
He sees “a form of imprudence, of excessive pride” in the head of the SVR (external intelligence service), who met him to warn him against resorting to nuclear weapons, and not about negotiations, the starting point for which “the Ukrainians will decide .”