“The idea was that no one dies”: Ex-Putin advisor questions the war in Ukraine After a false start: Blue Origin flew into space for the first time

A former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Russia has not adequately prepared for the attack on Ukraine. Sergei Markov, who now works as a political analyst, said in an interview that based on current knowledge he would have called off the invasion. “Anyone would have that,” he said. “Even Putin would do that.”

Markov explained in an interview with the radio station “Echo of Moscow” that the plan to overthrow the government in Kiev and gain control over supposedly pro-Russian regions had not been implemented. “That means there was no proper preparation,” he said, according to a translation by Russia monitor Julia Davis. She also distributed the interview on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

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Markov himself is considered a fundamental proponent of war and is close to the Kremlin, even though he no longer directly advises the president. He is a professor of international relations in Moscow and is regularly invited as a guest on television programs.

Putin’s logic is ‘strike first’

Markov said he would call off the war, prepare for the goal of overthrow and then go for it. In the now published interview, Markov said, according to the English translation, that Putin “follows an old logic: if a fight is inevitable, strike first.”

This refers to Russia’s unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine was planning to initiate “military actions” in the Donbass region. However, Putin-critical moderator Alexei Venediktov pointed out that Russia itself had recognized the region as part of Ukraine until shortly before the start of the war.

Professor Markov pointed to the high losses suffered by the Russian army as an indicator of a lack of planning. “The idea was that no one dies,” he said.

However, Markov stopped short of criticizing the Kremlin and repeating Russian propaganda, according to which America and Britain had brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to power and urged him to fight against Russia.

Zelensky was elected president in 2019 with a 79 percent majority. Even before the attack on Ukraine, Russia was considered a supporter of militias that fought to join Russia in the Donbass and annexed Crimea in the 2014 war. (t-online, wan)