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“Vladimir Putin has moved from a strategy of conquest to a strategy of annihilation.” Fiona Hill is convinced, the Russian president now intends “remove the Ukrainian threat”after the failure of his initial plan to overthrow the government in kyiv. “And, to remove a threat, the Russian approach is usually to crush it completely”warns this British Kremlin specialist to the Times.
According to her, the withdrawal of Russian troops from the kyiv region in no way signals the start of any de-escalation. “Putin has demonstrated in the past that he has a high tolerance for carnage and troop casualtiesbelieves the former adviser to the White House on Russian policy. He will not seek peace unless he can present it as a form of victory.”