Insight into Vladimir Putin's motives: The former US Attorney General, a former army general and a psychologist agree: "It's about power."
Moscow/Washington – What moves Vladimir Putin?
What are the Kremlin chief's motives for waging war against Ukraine for the past eleven months?
According to former US Attorney General Robert Gates, Putin considers it “his destiny” to restore the Russian empire.
Gates told US broadcaster NBC that Putin wants to restore Russia to its former glory by recapturing former Soviet territories.
"Putin is obsessed with taking back Ukraine," said the independent politician, who headed the Justice Department under both George W. Bush (Republican) and Barack Obama (Democrat).
Putin 'doing what Russian armies have always done'
Gates says Putin is confident of victory: "I think he believes that time is on his side, that support in the US, in Europe and so on will dwindle." Western countries recently announced further arms deliveries, which are holding up did not protect the Kremlin from further skirmishes.
According to US reports, Russia is currently planning the next offensive.
Donbass is to be targeted in February and March.
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Robert Gates was Attorney General under Barack Obama and before that under George W. Bush.
He looks at Putin's motives in the Ukraine war.
© IMAGO/UPI Photo
According to Gates, who worked for the CIA for 26 years, Putin is focusing on quantity instead of quality.
"He's doing what Russian armies have always done, which is to send large numbers of relatively poorly equipped, poorly trained conscripts to the front lines in the belief that the masses will prevail." less militarily trained men were also obliged to do military service.
The German military expert Carlo Masala also opened up the "quality versus quantity" equation on Sunday at "Anne Will".
WATCH: President Vladimir Putin believes it's "his destiny" to recreate the Russian empire, says fmr.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
"Without Ukraine, there can be no Russian empire. ... He will hang in there."
pic.twitter.com/hqqW0tFvvw
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 29, 2023
Ex-General's Putin thesis: "He wants to turn back the wheel of history"
The former General of the German Armed Forces, Klaus Naumann, recently attested to a historically influenced motif in an
interview with
Merkur .
"Putin wants to turn the wheel of history back to where it was in 1997," said the 83-year-old.
"He wants to push NATO back to where it was before the 1997 enlargement, split Europe in two again and create a Russian empire from the Baltic to the Black Sea, in which an independent Ukraine would no longer have any place." Russia should return to its old strength .
"This is totally unacceptable and no one will accept it."
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“He wants to split Europe in two”: General a.
D. Klaus Naumann provides insight into Vladimir Putin's motives.
© FKN
Putin's actions from a psychological point of view: "He wants power and influence"
It is well known that Putin likes to think in historical terms.
He had described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century".
After 1991, the Kremlin despot had to experience how the 15 republics increasingly broke away from Russia.
During this time, the Ukraine crisis began.
The head of state could not have liked the development, said the transaction analyst Christoph Seidenfus at the beginning of the war on
Merkur.de
.
He deals with a psychological theory of the human personality structure and is an expert for psychology in organizations and institutions, including in the field of politics: "So the Russians experienced that they were unattractive for decades.
It's not very good psychologically," said Seidenfus.
That is why Putin demanded respect before the conflict escalated.
“Russia is a power-conscious country.
But there is not much left of this power.” Russia is also clearly at a disadvantage when compared to the superpower China, for example in terms of the economy.
"So we're dealing with a situation where someone has little reason to be proud of something.
Russia is quite proud of this type;
However, this pride is aimed at the time before 1991. We used to be proud, we used to be great.”
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
However, Putin is not concerned with economic aspects or the goodwill of the Russian population.
“He wants power and influence.
That's why he's behaving the way he's doing right now."
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