As of: February 27, 2024, 11:35 a.m
By: Simon Schröder
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Putin has scored a few victories in the last few weeks.
The city of Avdiivka has been conquered and the USA is slowly losing its nerve.
An expert gives his assessment.
Washington DC - Steve Hall, former CIA chief, said in an interview with the American news portal
CNN
that Vladimir Putin had had a very good few weeks.
Hall, who was active for the CIA primarily in the former Soviet states, currently sees Putin as having more leverage.
Putin would have been right in his assessment that the USA was “losing its nerve” in view of the much-discussed Ukraine aid in the US Congress.
Setbacks in the Ukraine war: blocked US aid package and strategic loss of Avdiivka
Kiev still hopes for the US Ukraine aid package.
After the Senate was able to pass the package after much back and forth, the debate reignited in the House of Representatives, whose members must approve the measure.
Some House Republicans are vehemently opposed to Kiev's $60 billion in anti-Russia support.
The Russian army also recorded a major military success last week.
Due to an acute shortage of ammunition, partly due to delayed US aid, the Russian army was able to take the industrial center and the city of Avdiivka.
The chaotic withdrawal from the strategically important city resulted in several hundred Ukrainian soldiers being left behind, the
New York Times
reported.
Pro-Ukraine protest in Berlin, with protest poster “Bloodymir” showing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© Stefan Boness/IPON
Kiev urgently needs help in the Ukraine war
The contested area, ten kilometers north of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, saw the bloodiest skirmishes of the war.
Both sides suffered heavy losses until Russia was ultimately able to capture the city.
According to Ukrainian estimates, up to 47,000 Russian soldiers have been killed trying to push back Ukrainian troops.
Hall sums it up and says: “It was a very good few weeks for Vladimir Putin.” Putin showed his doubters in the Russian government that victory in Ukraine is possible.
Because the American mood to support Kiev is changing.
“It is now up to the West to show him that he was wrong,” said the secret service expert.
The Russian elections are convenient for Putin - without opposition they will be a complete success
The expert sees these, from a Russian perspective, positive developments in the Ukraine war as very convenient for Putin with a view to the coming elections.
The Russian ruler has “very positive” prospects for the upcoming elections.
Because even if Putin were to win these sham elections anyway, there is little headwind to be expected from the Russian opposition.
According to his assessment in the
CNN
interview, the elections will be a complete success for Putin.
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“Who is left to protest, who will lead this?
Navalny?
No, he's dead. He either took all the other opposition members, the serious ones, off the board by killing them, or he simply pushed them to the sidelines and managed to penetrate their organization so that they no longer can be effective.”
Kremlin critic Navalny was Putin's last big enemy in Russia
Alexei Navalny was Putin's biggest critic and challenger throughout his life.
After a poison attack on the Kremlin critic failed in 2020 and he barely survived, he resolutely continues his protest.
Navalny recovered in Germany and traveled back to Russia, whereupon he was promptly arrested at the airport.
Imprisoned in the so-called “Polar Wolf”, a Russian prison colony in Siberia, the opposition activist died in prison on February 16th.
With Navalny's death, Putin's last major opposition in Russia has fallen silent.
Against this background, Putin is perfectly positioned for the coming election.
With the victory in Avdiivka, a Ukrainian army running out of ammunition, no real opposition and a wavering West, it has been a very good few weeks for Putin.
It remains to be hoped for Kiev that the Republicans in the House of Representatives will quickly come to an agreement and that Ukraine will receive the urgently needed help.
Despite the horrendous losses in the Ukraine war, Putin seems determined to continue his invasion.
In Hall's estimation, Putin doesn't care about the losses: "He has no problem at all with sending hundreds of thousands of young Russian men to their deaths so that they can win Ukraine." (
SiSchr)