Western world must expect ‘ruthless violence’ from ‘cornered’ Putin warns expert
A Russian political expert has warned that Europe and the USA should expect extreme violence from ‘cornered’ Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to falter, with heavy fighting in Kherson and drone attacks around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Putin’s ‘special military operation is understood to have been planned as a lighting fast invasion, with Ukraine rolling over in little time.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE 'Frightened' Putin 'getting closer to launching nuclear strike' warns ex-RAF chief
Instead, the slow ‘meat-grinder’ war that has played out has seen Putin’s political and strategic options whittled down time and time again.
Pressure isn’t just mounting from outside of Russia, but inside too, as top military and political personnel grow frustrated with the progress of the war.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, Dr Paul Flenley, senior lecturer in international politics at the University of Portsmouth warned that pressures from inside Russia could lead Putin to do something horrifying outside of it.
“He's being pushed, he's cornered in many ways,” Dr Flenley said. “He’s being pushed by various nationalists within Russia, to really up the game.
“There's a lot of pressure, political pressure, on him within the elites, and amongst nationalists, to really go for a much harsher response and possibly use nuclear weapons.”
7 killed in gangland slaughter with bodies in roads, blankets and at work sites
He added: "Putin is definitely cornered at the moment.
"And he's desperately cornered by nationalist sentiments and the military campaign, that the Ukrainians are not going to compromise and because the West looks as though it's not going to split.
"So he wants to break out of that corner.
"And one way of doing it might be to pursue a kind of more ruthless bombing… to try to weaken the resolve of the Ukrainians."
Dr Flenley pointed out that Putin and the Russian government were facing “a lot of criticism” from both nationalist commentators and politicians and from the elites of the many different regions that make up the Russian Federation.
But these complaints, he said, were more oriented towards the war going badly, rather than the existence of the war itself.
He said they were angry, “about the lack of supplies, the lack of training, about the actual conduct of the war – rather than criticisms of the war itself.”
For now, he said, among Russia’s powerful the focus is much more on winning the war rather than asking whether the war should be happening in the first place.
“There isn't the kind of mass pressure for an end to the war.
“I mean, obviously, there have been demonstrations, but relatively few, and they're not organised,” he said.
“There isn't really the groundswell of support for many sections of the elite – it could be a bit of a war drags on.”
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here
READ NEXT:
EXCLUSIVE: World close to using horror nukes that would turn people to crisp, expert claims
EXCLUSIVE: Brits' Christmas dos in peril as UK's top pubs 'may have to shut over festive period'
- EXCLUSIVE: 'I tried to eat 3100 calories in 15 minutes with a yard-long pizza and mac n cheese'
EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s Kamikaze drone ‘like Nazi V1 used to batter Brits in the Blitz – but better'
Elon Musk warns Nuclear war probability rising rapidly as he responds to Mad Max theory
Source: Read Full Article