Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, is confident that Russia is already dead, but the Kremlin is not fully aware of it.
"Sometimes, when a person is dead, they don't know it yet. But they are dead. That's the same with Russia – it's already dead, but it doesn't fully understand it yet. They have no options; they are nobody; they are not needed by anyone. They are completely reset," Podolyak believes.
Podoliak expressed this point of view while answering journalists' questions about whether he considers the delay in Western partners providing specific assistance to Ukraine a major disappointment.
He explained that "delay" is a feature of the modern political, democratic process, which involves "countless commissions" carefully studying all documents and factors affecting the allocation of funds.
However, as Podolyak emphasizes, "slow democracy" is still better because it prevents the possibility of making fatal decisions characteristic of authoritarianism. As an example, he cited the Russian Federation.
"To start a war in Ukraine is a fatal decision of an illiterate individual named Putin, which will lead to the nullification of Russia's history," he said.
Podoliak clarifies that many factors will be reconsidered, for example, in the context of the Second World War.
"Factors that should have been reconsidered after the collapse of the USSR will be reassessed... Roughly speaking, Russia's reputation will be reset, and its historical weight will be nullified. Russia's influence, its participation in international institutions, and its economic participation in the modern world will be reset. The influence of the Russian product— the so-called Russian world, and so on— will be reset. Another question is the price to pay for this reset," emphasizes Podolyak.
He explains that the problem is that in 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, Western leaders did not exert enough pressure on Russia through condemning the crimes of the communist regime. If that had happened, the world would now know a different Russia. As a result, black-hundredism quickly made itself felt.
"The deep ideology of Russia has always been black-hundredism, which, accordingly (without condemning the crimes of the communist regime), sharply returned. Moreover, with even greater hatred for the West. Therefore, of course, war was predetermined. The war, perhaps not against Ukraine. Perhaps against someone else, but the fact that Russia would attack different countries, testing the global order for strength, is undeniable," emphasized the advisor.
At the same time, he believes that Russia is only ready to win "short distances." For example, if after the full-scale invasion of 2022, the Russian army had left Ukraine's borders within a few weeks, the so-called Special Military Operation would be considered a "victory." However, the opposite happened— the aggressor "lingered" in Ukraine, and it withstood the aggression. As a result, according to Podolyak's opinion, the Kremlin now has no chance of prolonging its existence.
"Russia is currently in agony, and they don't understand it yet. So, for them, it's a feast in time of the plague," says Podolyak.
He considers the behavior of the Kremlin regime, which continues to threaten Ukraine, as bravado. The advisor reminded how immediately after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the aggressor claimed to have supposedly destroyed Ukraine's Air Force, captured Odessa, and Kyiv. However, the occupiers had to retreat later.
Podolyak believes that the current situation is similar: the invaders think they have withstood, won't lose the war, and have a chance not to be held accountable for war crimes, but this is not the case.
"Yes, they have some quantity of zombies to send. They have some partners who become a bit cheeky, like North Korea. Because, again, they see that Russia kills in Ukraine, and they are not punished for it. But this will end very quickly, including for North Korea," concludes the advisor to the president's office.
