Vladimir Putin will lose this war “ultimately”, convinced a former senior foreign affairs adviser to Stephen Harper, who met with the Russian president.
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Mr. Ross O’Connor said in an interview Friday at LCN: “Putin just recreated his Vietnam or Afghanistan in 1979. He’s going to lose in the end.
According to him, the defeat of the Russian president is undoubtedly possible, even if it occurs within a year or within five years.
“The Ukrainians are fighting to the end, so he will either lose economically, because he will not have the means to intervene in Ukraine, or maybe he will simply lose by force of circumstances militarily, but he will lose in the end,” he said.
The former chief adviser explained that the Russian president, according to him, “is all inside.”
“He’s going to go bankrupt, and I think his fate is tied to the fate of this mission. For him, I think he’s ready to go to the end. He’s ready to go to the end and he’s even willing to sacrifice his presidency because that might be what’s going to happen,” said Mr. O’Connor.
Recreate his hero’s dream
Ross O’Connor sees Vladimir Putin’s goal as forming a shield with the countries surrounding Russia.
“Mr. I think Putin is recreating a kind of dream of his hero, Peter the Great, who wanted to create a kind of shield that would protect Russia from a potential Hitler or a potential Napoleon.”
The former chancellor believes that this goal can guarantee the Russian president’s interest in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
“I think he wants to re-create the Old Shield, which goes through Ukraine. He already has Belarus and would probably like to have the Baltic states completely re-create the shield.
Putin, the “dominant male”
Mr. O’Connor had the opportunity to observe Vladimir Putin closely during the meetings between Canada and Russia.
His observation that the Russian president is a “mysterious figure.”
“He is mysterious, he is kind of a Sphinx. On purpose, he wants to give the impression that he knows something more than you and that he will be able to defeat you,” he said.
For him, there is no doubt that Mr. Putin is a “real dictator” and that he seeks to show that he is in control when in a room with other people.
“He is trying to establish himself as the dominant being, the dominant male, the dominant man in the room. Mr. O’Connor said he wanted to give the impression that he was the alpha in the room and that he knew something about it.
