US intelligence described Russian President Vladimir Putin as increasingly isolated, “frustrated” and “angry” over the situation in Ukraine during a congressional hearing.
“I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. He is likely to redouble his efforts and try to crush the Ukrainian army regardless of civilian casualties,” CIA director William Burns said.
“We believe that Putin suffers from the West’s lack of deference to him,” US intelligence chief Avril Haines also insisted during the same audience.
“He feels that this is a war that he cannot afford to lose. But what you might be willing to accept as a win might change over time,” he explained.
The invasion of Ukraine resulted for the Russian president from a “deep personal conviction”, assured the CIA director, since the Russian president, according to him, hatched “for many years an explosive mixture of grievances and ambitions”.
The CIA director also referred to the “system” put in place by the Russian president in which his own circle of advisers “is getting narrower”, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Gestion
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