Putin dropping confidence in Ukraine battle, former Russian PM says

Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated that Vladimir Putin’s confidence within the battle in Ukraine has been shaken.

In an interview with DW on Friday from an undisclosed location in Europe, he stated the Russian president could have been misled by his generals concerning the state of the battle.

Kasyanov served as Putin’s first prime minister from 2000 to 2004 earlier than being sacked, and happening to kind an opposition occasion and run for president in 2008. He turned a vocal opponent, and now lives in exile.

He instructed DW that Putin was not talking from a place of power and even appeared “a little bit nervous” throughout a army parade speech he gave to commemorate “Victory Day,” the top of World War II on May 9.

In the speech, Putin doubled down on the battle, falsely claiming that Ukraine might have nuclear weapons and that the nation is being led by neo-Nazis. The Russian president stated the invasion was the “only right decision,” claiming that the West was planning to invade Russia.

“The reaction of Mr. Putin and his speech was absolutely weak,” Kasyanov stated, including that Putin was “already started to realize that he’s losing this war.”

Putin ‘misled’ by internal circle

Kasyanov supported the speculation many analysts maintain about how Putin’s internal circle has withheld info or not supplied him a full image of the state of the battle, for concern of delivering dangerous information.

“I’m sure he was misled,” Kasyanov stated, including that Putin “believed that his army [was] in a great shape” and that the invasion would take little or no time.

It all comes weeks after Russia retreated from Kyiv and refocused its power within the jap a part of the nation.

With Russia experiencing a number of defeats on the battlefield, Kasyanov warned that Putin might look to push the battle into a brand new part.

“Now we’re coming to another stage — this competition of rivalry, of economic potentials, military potentials,” he stated, noting that the choice by western international locations to ship heavy weapons to Ukraine will give Kyiv “a decisive advantage” going ahead.

Kasyanov knew a ‘different’ Putin

Having labored along with Putin, Kasyanov stated the Russian chief had undergone a drastic change. “I worked with him 20 years ago. It was completely a different person. It was a completely different situation at that time,” he stated.

“We had parliament, independent parliament — we had independent media, we had a judiciary. Today is completely different world,” he stated. “Mr. Putin destroyed all features of democratic state and now just we have [an] absolutely authoritarian regime and gradually moving to a totalitarian one.”