Ashish Ranjan
During the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asserted that Vladimir Putin will be killed by his closest advisors. According to a report in Newsweek, the Ukrainian leader made this claim in a documentary titled ‘Year’ featuring him. In the documentary, the Ukrainian leader asserts that a period of “fragility” in the Russian President’s leadership will occur, compelling his “close aide to take action against him.” Newsweek reported that the documentary was published on Friday to coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As the conflict in Ukraine enters its second year, CIA Director William Burns stated on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ‘too confident’ in the ability of his military to subdue Ukraine.
Burns stated in a television interview that the head of Russia’s intelligence services exhibited ‘a sense of cockiness and hubris’ in their November meeting, which reflected Putin’s own beliefs that he can manipulate time, that he can wear down the Ukrainians and our European allies, and that political fatigue will eventually set in.
Putin stated in a Sunday interview that after Russia suspended its participation in the previous arms control agreement with the United States, it would ‘take into account’ the nuclear weapons capabilities of not only the United States, but also other NATO nations such as France and the United Kingdom.
Putin had stated earlier this week, in a speech suspending Russia’s participation in the 2010 New START treaty, that non-signatories France and Britain had joined the United States in targeting Russia with nuclear weapons. In an interview with Russian television that was taped on Wednesday and aired on Sunday, he stated that he took the action in order to “preserve our country, guarantee security, and maintain strategic stability.”
He added, “Under the current circumstances, when all the prominent NATO countries have declared that their primary objective is to inflict a strategic defeat on us and cause our people to suffer, how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities? In addition, they provide Ukraine with armaments worth tens of billions of dollars.”
Putin was reiterating his recurring theme that the West is intent on destroying Russia and that his one-year-old struggle in Ukraine is part of a fight for Russia’s very survival. He contended a year ago that his primary objective in invading Ukraine was to reduce what he perceived to be threats to Russia’s security, and he has since cited these threats as justification for the potential use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
As Western military aid flowed into the invaded nation, the Russian leader and his foreign minister portrayed the conflict as a de facto conflict between Russia and not only Ukraine, but also NATO.
Allies of Ukraine have emphasised their desire to avoid becoming direct combatants while equipping Ukraine to defend itself and retake territory captured by Russia. Putin stated that Russia cannot accept US inspections of its nuclear sites as long as the United States and its NATO allies desire Russia’s defeat in Ukraine.
The Russian President emphasised that Moscow would not withdraw from the accord, and the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the country would continue to adhere to the treaty’s limits on nuclear weapons and notify the United States of ballistic missile test launches.
Putin did not elaborate in his interview with Russian television on how he would ‘take into consideration’ the nuclear arsenals of NATO nations other than the United States, but he did indicate he was open to “discussions from the centre of the field” on the subject.
Putin also used the interview to assert that the West is attempting to dismantle Russia, a claim he has repeatedly used to rationalise Russian aggression in Ukraine. Putin stated, “They seek to dismantle the former Soviet Union and its core component, the Russian Federation.”
Putin predicted that if the West succeeds in destroying Russia and establishing control, Russians may not endure as a distinct ethnic group if they are destroyed and subjugated. “There will be Muscovites, some kind of Ural people, and so on,” he said, referring to Russia’s probable fragmentation into regional groups. He theorised that the West could only partially admit Russia into the so-called “family of civilised peoples,” thereby fragmenting the country.
Putin’s favourite theme is survival threats, and Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recently told The Associated Press that “for him, it’s all about protection, and he believes that the Russian world has been attacked from the West, and Ukrainians are a part of this Russian world.”
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Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, US Vice President Joseph Biden refuted a number of Putin’s claims. “The United States and European nations have no intention of controlling or destroying Russia. “The West did not plot an attack on Russia, as Putin claimed today,” stated Biden. “Millions of Russian citizens who wish to live in harmony with their neighbours are not the enemy.
