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President Putin has seen the invasion of Ukraine as part of a grand plan to restore Russia's greatness, and for the moment appears to enjoy the support of his political party. However, despite what Mr Putin's supporters within Russia claim, civilians are being bombed and killed, Russian forces are clearly facing more resistance than they might have expected in Ukraine and the Russian economy is arguably facing its gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, after the West's imposition of sanctions.

Andrei Illarionov was Putin's chief economic advisor from 2000 to 2005聽and is now a senior fellow at the Centre for Security in Washington DC. He says that although some have wondered if the Russian president has lost touch with reality and is mentally unstable, the president is actually 鈥渃alculated, persistent, and using all instruments to achieve his goals鈥�. He says that he is happy to use any justification for his his "outrageous, flagrant violation of international law". He goes on to say that he is using nuclear threats as a form of blackmail, but doesn't believe he will carry out these threats.

鈥淗e is calculated, persistent, and using all instruments to achieve his goals.鈥�
"Once he makes a decision, it's impossible to change his mind."

Photo: Russian President Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council outside Moscow, March 3, 2022 Credit: Reuters

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