Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis said on Sunday during an interview on The Cats Roundtable radio show that Russian President Vladimir Putin knows he made a mistake in Ukraine, and that the war effort isn’t going the way he expected it would.
WABC 770AM radio host John Catsimatidis asked the former NATO leader whether Putin still believes he is doing the right thing in Ukraine, Stavridis said that the Russian president likely wakes in the quiet hours of the morning and “realizes he’s made a mistake.”
“Publicly he’ll never admit that,” he said. “Never. He’ll continue to maintain this fiction that Ukraine is run by ‘neo-Nazis.’ Ridiculous, obviously.”
Not only will Putin never admit he made a mistake, even if the battle continues for the foreseeable future, the former NATO commander believes that Putin will maintain his position that NATO “pushed him into this corner.”
“Everything that has happened is of Vladimir Putin’s doing to include the invasion, the sanctions that have followed, the military pushback,” he said. “I think he knows it in his heart, he’ll never admit it publicly.”
Stavridis also offered an insight into the prospects of Russia winning in Ukraine, explaining how the Russian military is “burning through capability” in terms of both troops and ammunition.
“I’d say, six months from now, he’s going to be in very dire straits,” Stavridis predicted, suggesting that negotiations on bringing the conflict to an end could intensify as Russia struggles to replenish its stock of ammunition, weapons, and troops.
The Pentagon already confirmed last week that around 80,000 Russian troops have been injured or killed in the conflict, and reports revealed over the last month how private military contractor Wagner has resorted to enlisting released prisoners as private soldiers to assist in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Senior Russian Officials “Panicking”
An unnamed high-level Kremlin official has told Western media outlets that some of Putin’s closest allies are concerned about the lack of progress in Ukraine and the devastation it is causing to both countries. The source claimed that the Kremlin is in panic and officials are desperate to find ways to bring the conflict to an end.
Russian President Putin. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Daily Mirror reported that a leaked “situation report” is currently being analyzed by Western intelligence agencies and that the document reveals the Kremlin’s willingness to enter negotiations to bring the war to an end.
“A representative of Putin’s inner circle sent a signal to the West about the desire to negotiate,” the document reportedly reads. “The mood of the Kremlin elite is panic.”
The document also describes the unnamed Kremlin source as “one of the pillars of the regime,” suggesting that Putin could be facing high-level opposition over his decision to double down on the Ukraine invasion.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
