Burns, who has pledged allegiance to Putin as US ambassador to Russia, has made a far-reaching indictment of the Russian leader and reiterated past Russian atrocities. “I have no doubt about the severe pain and damage that Putin may continue to inflict on Ukraine or the brutal brutality with which Russian power is exercised,” Burns told the Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta. “The crimes in Bouha are horrible. “The scenes of destruction in Mariupol and Kharkiv are sadly reminiscent of the images I saw in Grozny, Chechnya, as a young diplomat in the winter of 1994-95: Forty square meters in the city center were leveled by Russian bombardment and bombardment, let alone by bombers.” As leaders discuss “genocide”, a growing focus on atrocities in Ukraine Burns’ comments were based on previous estimates by senior Biden government officials, including President Biden, that Putin was responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Victoria Nuland, the deputy foreign minister in charge of political affairs, said the United States was likely to determine that genocide had been committed. President Biden on April 12 in Des Moines referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “dictator” committing “genocide” in Ukraine. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post) Speaking in Iowa on Tuesday, Biden called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a “genocide.” He later told reporters that he had used the word “deliberately” and would “let lawyers decide internationally whether he meets the conditions”. “I definitely think so,” Biden added. Burns also recounted his own interactions in Moscow with Putin and his advisers in early November, as the US intelligence community watched the accumulation of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border in apparent preparations for an invasion. Burns says Biden sent him to Russia to convey “the depth of our concern [Putin’s] planning for war and the consequences for Russia of trying to carry out this plan. I was troubled by what I heard. “ Although Putin did not appear to have made an irreversible decision to attack at the time, Burns said, “he leaned provocatively in that direction, apparently convinced that this window was closed to shape Ukraine’s orientation.” Putin seemed to believe that the winter offered a “favorable landscape” for invasion and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his fellow citizens were unlikely to put up “effective resistance.” Putin also said that the Russian military was “capable of a quick, decisive victory at minimal cost” and that it had made the Russian economy “protected from sanctions by a foreign exchange war chest,” Burns said. Insult and isolation led Vladimir Putin to misjudge Ukraine These assumptions turned out to be deeply wrong. The Russian army quickly sank after the invasion of February 24 and is flooded with logistical challenges and a savage response from the Ukrainian army, which has killed thousands of Russian soldiers. The United States and European countries immediately imposed sanctions on the Russian central bank and froze hundreds of billions of dollars in reserves that Putin had left exposed abroad. Putin also misjudged Ukraine and its people, Burns said. “Ukraine, he had argued for years, was not a real country. But the real countries are counterattacking. “And that is what the Ukrainians have done with such remarkable bravery, with such courage and determination from President Zelensky.” The CIA director made many comments to Putin personally, describing him as a “retaliatory apostle” fueled by grievances, who remained “firmly convinced that the West – especially the United States – took advantage of Russia’s historic weakness in the 1990s.” . “His willingness to take risks has increased as his grip on Russia has tightened,” Burns said. “His circle of advisers has narrowed and in this small circle it has never been encouraging to question his judgment or his stubborn, almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russia’s sphere of influence. “Every day, Putin is proving that declining forces can be at least as subversive as rising powers.” A few days after the invasion of Ukraine, Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to raise the alarm, worrying world leaders and raising the prospect that the war could witness a hitherto unthinkable use of nuclear weapons. But it is not clear that Putin’s mandate led to any change in Russia’s position, Burns said during a question-and-answer session. “While we have seen some rhetorical stance on the part of the Kremlin regarding the transition to higher levels of nuclear alert, so far we have not seen much practical evidence of the kind of developments or, you know, military dispositions that would reinforce this concern,” he said. Burns. “It simply came to our notice then. “It’s one of the most important responsibilities of the CIA.” Burns, who was confirmed as CIA director in March 2021, had testified before Congress, but his remarks in Atlanta were the most extensive to date in an informal forum. He also singled out the Chinese government, calling it “the long-term problem posed by China’s ambitious leadership; the only major geopolitical challenge I can see in the 21st century.” “A silent partner in Putin’s aggression, Xi Jinping’s China is our biggest challenge, in many ways the deepest ordeal the CIA has ever faced,” Burns added.
