CIA director on Russian military aggression against Ukraine

On Sunday, CIA Director William Burns spoke on CBS about what he believes is driving Vladimir Putin’s continued aggression against Ukraine.According to Burns, Putin thinks “he can make his time work, he can slaughter Ukrainians, he can wear down our European allies, and political fatigue in the West will set in sooner or later.”“Experience shows that Putin thinks that we Americans are prone to attention deficit disorder and eventually, sooner or later, we will turn our attention to another problem. And so Putin in many ways, I thinks, believes today that – yes, for a while he won’t be able to win, but at the same time he can’t afford to lose. way to retreat, an outcome that would suit everyone – Putin made a double bet. And she, by any objective measure, is still a strategic failure for Russia, “said the CIA director.When asked by CBS host Margaret Brennan if Putin understood that he was simply throwing his young soldiers through a meat grinder and what price of losses Russia had to pay for Putin to change his mind, William Burns replied that ” Putin is not sentimental at all. in relation to the human sacrifices and the enormous losses suffered by his country during this war.
As Burns pointed out, “Putin still has a lot of arrogance in his assessments of the war, and the most important thing that can be done to dispel that arrogance in the run-up to 2023 is to provide all kinds of material support and intelligence to our Ukrainian partners. so that they restore momentum on the battlefield.Burns said as a former diplomat he would like to see opportunities for negotiations.“I don’t think the Russians are serious about negotiations today. And in my opinion, only progress on the battlefield can improve the prospects for negotiations in the future. And that will be the decision of the Ukrainians,” Burns said. “It is not just the job of our intelligence community, but the job of the U.S. government to provide all possible support to the Ukrainians so that they can strengthen their position on the battlefield and ultimately the negotiating table.”Asked when Putin, who now controls 18% of Ukraine, might realize he can’t defeat it, Burns replied that “Putin is now overconfident in his ability to wear down Ukraine. crush, and all indications are that he is now determined to do just that. But, according to Burns, “Putin will face increasing costs and pressure at some point. Soldiers from poorer corners of Russia are returning at home in coffins, many of the conscripts who are thrown as cannon fodder at the front… hail from Dagestan and Buryatia, the poorest regions of Russia. There is also cumulative economic damage to Russia. And enormous damage to Russia’s reputation. What is happening now is not good publicity for Russian arms sales. So over time, all of these factors will overlap. But today, for to be honest, Putin is quite determined (to fight e).Commenting on Chinese attitudes toward the war in Ukraine, the CIA director pointed out that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had watched the course of that war closely and, according to Burns, “in many ways he was alarmed and sobered by what he saw”.Regarding the possibility of China supplying lethal weapons to Russia, Burns said the CIA is watching it closely.“I think China is evaluating this issue very carefully. And we have certainly made very clear the seriousness of the implications for our relationship and for China’s relationship with our European allies,” Burns said. “We have started to receive intelligence suggesting that China is considering supplying lethal weapons. This doesn’t mean that they have made a final decision on this yet…but it is clear that we are taking this very seriously and are monitoring it very closely.