Former national security official, Fiona Hill, explains Vladimir Putin’s complex political situation within Russia during a discussion hosted by the Brookings Institution. Russia first invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 and the deadly war has continued to rock the international community over the abhorrent war crimes and atrocities that have taken place as Ukraine defends itself against the Russian invasion.
HILL: “We have to watch the dynamics inside of Russia very carefully I think in terms of answering this question because Russia remains a very complex place. We think about Vladimir Putin, we know that it was his decision to launch this war. Part of it is his thinking about Ukraine, along the lines that Jim is suggesting here. There is only a handful of people, maybe the same number of people sitting on this stage, who participated in the decision to invade Ukraine. It hasn’t gone anywhere that he thought it would or the so-called Party of War thought it would. And it was a big debate inside Russia itself. So it’s not just us debating, it’s also people within Russia.”
