Putin wants to restore the USSR, Ukraine's independence is contrary to the outlook - Mikhail Podolyak in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat
“Putin's plan is simple. He wants to restore the Soviet Union in one form or another. Ukraine here is his main enemy, ”said Advisor to the Presidential Office. According to him, the independence of our country is contrary to the outlook of Russian representatives. Mikhail Podolyak noted that calls for peace talks that sometimes heard from some European capitals are based on assumptions that were false in 2008 and 2014.
“If we allow Russia to win the war, it will be able to dictate its terms in Europe. This leads to the promotion of Russia to Moldova, Georgia, Northern Kazakhstan or Baltic countries. Russia will begin to manipulate the EU internal policy, provoking extremely left and extremely right forces. A chain reaction will begin in the world when other authoritarian states understand that they can achieve their goal through an aggressive war, ”the adviser to the head of the head of state emphasized.
However, in his opinion, the war between Russia and Ukraine will end at the negotiation table, but only after the Russian Federation suffered significant tactical losses at the front. “Russia is really ready for peace only if it suffered significant tactical losses. Then she ceases to put forward ultimatums and is forced to listen to the arguments of others. When Ukraine reaches the limits defined in 1991, then Russia will be ready to sit at the negotiating table and sign a peace treaty.
This is the only chance to guarantee the liberal values and freedom of Europe, ”Mikhail Podolyak is convinced. In his opinion, the defeat of Russia will also give freedom of choice of Belarus, which can become a true European democracy. However, now, as the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office stated, Ukraine is negotiating with the Russian Federation only on prisoners and other tactical issues.
“We are also talking about the defenders of Azovstal, but it is difficult to move, because Russia wants to get the maximum propaganda benefit from them. The Red Cross and the UN are weak. They should become more active, ”he said. As Mikhail Podolyak emphasized, in the war in Ukraine Russia has crossed all the permissible limits and should be responsible for its crimes, because otherwise the whole European security system will lose its authority.
According to the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, Ukraine managed to slow down the promotion of Russia in the Donbass, although the Russian army makes 40-50 thousand shots from artillery of different caliber daily. “The war moved to the fourth stage. Russia brought the maximum number of equipment and people to Ukraine. They are running an artillery war they want to continue until winter, ”he said.
At the same time, as Mikhail Podolyak noted, the Russian Federation tries to deplete Europe with a shortage of energy to be tired of helping our country in this war. The adviser to the head of the Presidential Office noted that the counter -offensive of Ukraine in the south was progressing. “We are trying to effectively destroy the logistics and management positions of the Russians. Our goal is to complicate their supply and make them retreat before winter, ”said Mikhail Podolyak.
In order to gain an advantage on the battlefield, Ukraine requires modern weapons, including the air defense systems, which the Ukrainian authorities are referring to the governments of foreign states. "The missile potential is very important because Russia is attacking the winged missiles residential areas," - said the adviser to the Presidential Office Head.
In addition to the weapons, he said, the help of the Ukrainian economy, which Russia has tried to destroy, bombing factories, ports and agricultural enterprises. Separately, Mikhail Podolyak thanked Finland for his assistance and expressed his hope for active support for Ukraine on the way to EU membership. “We have a very warm relationship with Finland.