WEAR
In the same interview, the head of the CIA estimated that, faced with the difficulties of his army in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin knows that he cannot win the war for the moment, but is convinced that he will win a final victory in wear and tear, refusing to consider any other option. “Putin, in my view, thinks today that he can’t win right away, but he can’t afford to lose,” William Burns told CBS.
“Right now,” he said, “I think Putin is downright determined” but “overconfident in his ability to wear down Ukraine.” And instead of considering a way out, the Russian president “persists and signs” in his war, according to the boss of American intelligence, former American ambassador to Moscow.
His November meeting in Turkey with his Russian counterpart Sergei Naryshkin was “demoralizing”, he also said. He says he saw “a form of imprudence, of excessive pride” in the boss of the SVR (external intelligence), met to warn him of any recourse to nuclear weapons, and not for negotiations, whose point departure “will be decided by the Ukrainians.”
