Russia researcher: Putin wants to use force to achieve regime change
Vladimir Putin is now after the whole of Ukraine, not just control over the two breakaway republics in the east, NUPI researcher Julie Wilhelmsen believes.
She pointed out that the backdrop for the conflict has been Russia’s desire for control of the two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine and a buffer zone against NATO.
“But what we face now – and which Putin clearly signaled in his speech last night – is something even more comprehensive,” Wilhelmsen told NTB.
She pointed out that Putin used the word “junta” in his description of the Ukrainian leadership. He said that there must be a demilitarization of Ukraine and that the country must be “de-Nazified.”
Regime change
“It is a type of rhetoric that signals that the Kremlin is now willing to use military force to carry out a regime change in Ukraine and establish a government that is pro-Russian,” Wilhelmsen said.
“For me, as an analyst of Putin’s wars since the war in Chechnya in 1999, we are now in a phase where the Kremlin has decided and is willing to use all means to achieve what they want,” she said.
This means that Russia is likely to be willing to use military force to gain control of the whole of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv.
Wilhelmsen says it is still unclear whether Russia is willing to go in with ground forces in a full occupation.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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