Andrei Zubov Europe warns again: “If Wladimir Putin will win in Ukraine, nobody will be safe in Europe.” For the Russian historian, the tsar will not limit himself to the Donbass, as he has led to believe: “When Putin launched the special military operation on February 24, he believed him in could occupy a large part of Ukraine in a few days. But the army and weapons were in poor condition. It was easy to imagine: if you have bad industry, you will have bad armor. The Ukrainian army, on the other hand, turned out to be better than previously thought. In addition, he was trained by NATO for years and took part in various maneuvers of the alliance. Not only. Putin and his advisers failed to understand that Ukraine has changed from 2014 to today.” That is why Putin’s idea of a quick operation fell apart and the promise of to be limited to the Donbass “is a lie”.
“The original goal – explains the analyst to the Republic’s columns – remains. Putin wants to liquidate Ukraine as an independent state. He wants it today as he wanted it in February.” According to Zubov, behind the Ukrainian invasion there is nothing but the Russian president’s past: “As a former KGB agent and homo sovieticus, Putin considers the collapse of the USSR to be a mistake and is doing everything to correct it. He wants to reunite the Russian Empire, USSR. And without Ukraine, the largest ex-Soviet state after Russia, reunification is not possible.” In short, Ukraine is the pillar of its construction.
Who can stop the tsar? Just a coup. The expert is confident of this: “I thought it would be there soon, but I didn’t understand how strong the construction is that Putin built in twenty years. I still believe in it, but right now they’re all too scared of each other. from the other”. Yet most Russian leaders do not support the invasion of Ukraine. The elite, the historian says, love the good life. A life that sanctions have wiped out. For that, “they understand that there is only one way out the liquidation of Putin’s power. It’s going to happen sooner or later.”
