The head of the CIA confirmed that the war in Ukraine weakened Vladimir Putin

At a time when the President of the United States, Joe BidenThe director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) redoubles efforts to get Congress to approve a new military aid package for Ukraine. William J. BurnsPublished a column this Tuesday in North American magazine foreign affairs in which. Among other topics, he analyzed the current situation of the war in Ukraine, which will complete two years on February 24. Vladimir Putin It gave the green light to the Russian troops to invade the neighboring country.

The North American Intelligence Director says that on February 24, 2022, the post-Cold War era ended with a Russian invasion. According to him, this nearly 24-month conflict weakened the Kremlin’s head.

“Putin’s war is already a failure for Russia on many levels”, he commented. And he called Putin’s main goal of taking control of Kiev to turn Ukraine into another satellite state of Moscow “foolish and delusional.”

When speaking of “failures,” Burns recalls that the Russian army suffered “tremendous losses” in this nearly two-year war. At least 315,000 soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting, when two-thirds of the tank inventory was destroyed. “And Putin’s military modernization program. What was boasted about for decades, has failed,” he added.

In addition to the Russian president’s obvious miscalculations, the CIA director suggested that the losses suffered by the Russian Army were partial. “A direct result of the courage and skill of Ukrainian soldiers.” Along these lines, he also highlighted and valued the support of the West.

Burns explains that the consequences of the war are also being felt by the Russian population, the economy has been severely damaged and will continue to suffer in the long run. He also warned in his analysis Putin chose to seal Russia’s fate as an “economic vassal of China.”

Likewise, he opined that Putin’s “exaggerated ambitions” are forcing NATO to strengthen itself and achieve greater unity in the face of the Russian threat.

Despite all the setbacks and consequences that the war is bringing, the US intelligence director admitted that Putin’s oppressive control is unlikely to weaken anytime soon. However, he believed that “their war in Ukraine is quietly eroding their power” at the national level.

Regarding the latter, there was a pivotal moment for Burns The uprising was started last June by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the slain mercenary leader of the Wagner group.Who along with his band of fighters knew how to keep the head of the Kremlin in check.

That episode, according to the CIA director, “revealed some of the problems hidden behind Putin’s carefully polished image of control.” Also The Russian president ended up “settling accounts with Prigozhin”.who died in a suspicious plane crash near Moscow two months after his coup.

“But Prigozhin’s scathing criticism of the lies and military mistakes at the heart of Putin’s war, and the corruption at the heart of the Russian political system, won’t go away anytime soon,” Burns predicted.

For his part, he announced 2024 will probably be a very difficult year on the battlefield in Ukraine. In that sense, he pointed out, while Russia is reviving defense production — with the cooperation of China, Iran and North Korea, Putin “continues to bet that time is on his side, that he can crush Ukraine and knock out his allies. Can. “People of the West.”

Ukraine will be a challenge for the CIA director Highlight the high cost of continuing the armed conflict for Moscow. Along these lines, he thought that Ukrainian forces should continue their advance on the front, attack deep behind it and make “steady progress” into the Black Sea.

However, he admitted that “it would be absurd to rule out additional risks” from the conflict.

Faced with this panorama, Burns stressed that the key to success lay in “maintaining Western aid to Ukraine”. “At less than 5% of the US defense budget, this is a relatively modest investment with important geopolitical benefits for the United States and significant benefits for US industry,” he said in relation to North American aid.

In addition, he maintained that maintaining the flow of arms would allow Ukraine to gain a stronger position to face the serious negotiating table with Russia: “It offers an opportunity to ensure a long-term victory for Ukraine and a strategic loss for Russia. ; “Ukraine can protect and rebuild its sovereignty, while Russia faces the lasting costs of Putin’s folly.”

Burns concluded his column with a forceful reflection on Washington’s military assistance to Kiev: “For the United States to withdraw from the conflict and stop supporting Ukraine at this critical moment would be a goal of historic proportions in itself.”

Republicans are reluctant to continue allocating large sums of money to military cooperation with Ukraine. That’s why Republican and Democratic senators have been negotiating for weeks on a bill to impose more restrictions on cross-border migration, in exchange for new appropriations to finance Ukraine.

Last week, President Joe Biden once again pushed Congress to finally advance a legislative agreement.