"It will undermine legitimacy": US exhibit in Russia called Putin's greatest fear
According to him, Putin is often regarded as a rigid leader who cannot be driven into an angle because he needs space for maneuver. However, according to McFol, this is not the case. "Putin is not as desperate as they think about him. There are several examples when he was pressed, but he retreated instead of escalation," McFol said.
For example, when a rebellion began in Russia and Wagner PEC, headed by Yevgeny Prigogine, moved to Moscow, Putin initially made a rigid call for the destruction of rebels. However, in just a few hours he had already agreed to negotiate with Prigogin. Similarly, it happened with Erdogan a few years ago, when the Turkish leader warned Putin about crossing the Russian aircraft of the Turkish border during air operations in Syria.
As a result, when the tolerance was exhausted, Turkey knocked one of the Russian aircraft. Despite the harsh words to Turkey, Putin did not take serious steps in response, McFol emphasizes. In addition, a summit of Brix was recently held in South Africa, where Putin decided to perform in an online format, sending Lavrov Foreign Minister there. "He is afraid of the International Criminal Court. We do not see the brave man who challenges the event, we see a coward that is afraid of the event.
We have to come to us that Putin is not to be afraid and that we can safely challenge him and eventually drive him away,"- added Macfrol. He stressed that the main fear for Putin is the situation in which the Armed Forces of Ukraine will enter the territory of the occupied Crimean peninsula. "That's what he is most afraid of because it would undermine the legitimacy of his war in Russia," McFol summarized. We will remind, on September 1 Vladimir Putin visited "places of ancestors" in Tver region.