Russian President Vladimir Putin feels “cornered like a rat” as his Ukrainian invasion lasts into the third week, a former US intelligence officer told Fox News Digital, and his personal history suggests he will continue to lash out to gain the upper hand.
Rebekah Koffler, a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency agent and author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News Digital on Saturday that an excerpt from Putin’s 2000 autobiography “First Person” about growing up in a dilapidated apartment in Leningrad can be applied to his record as the Russian leader and his current invasion of Ukraine.
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Putin describes in his book that he had to cross several rat-infested floors to get to his parents’ apartment and that he wrote one day that he grabbed a stick and chased a large rat into a corner. Realizing that he was trapped, the rat attacked young Putin, forcing him to run away at a moment that apparently affected the future Russian president.
Koffler said the rat childhood story, and other stories Putin has approved to be told about his personal life, are a conscious effort to convey to the West that he will always retaliate if he is trapped.
“He wants people to know that he will fight if he is cornered,” Koffler told Fox News. “He will not surrender.”
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In another biography, “Vladimir Putin: Life History,” Putin is quoted as saying that as a child he learned through neighborhood fights that “in every fight you have to fight to the finish” and “you have to assume that there is no refuge.”
Putin’s predicament began when, according to Koffler, he “misjudged” two key issues related to the invasion of Ukraine by failing to take into account the Ukrainian people’s will to fight and the role technology would play in bringing the images of destruction to households around the world.
“He definitely miscalculated and now he feels he is trapped because he has to perform this operation and achieve his goal.”
Koffler explained that Putin watched in horror as the US overthrew regimes in Libya and Iraq and fears he will suffer the same fate, especially when he hears US leaders claim he is a deranged lunatic and call on him to murdered through his inner circle.
Part of the reason Putin feels the pressure regardless of any short-term victories he sees on the battlefield is that the Russian leader sees this battle with Ukraine as a struggle for his country’s survival.
Author Zbigniew Brzezinski writes in his book “The Grand Chessboard” that “he who controls Eurasia controls the world” and Koffler says Putin believes very much in that idea, while also believing the United States feels the same way.
“They know it’s not about who controls Ukraine at all,” Koffler said. “It’s about who controls Eurasia and who controls the world. That’s why you see Putin fighting for his life, for survival.”
Another factor to consider when discussing the pressures Putin is feeling, Koffler says, is the current proximity of NATO forces to Russia’s major cities. Koffler explained that during the Cold War, the distance between St. Petersburg and NATO forces was about 1,000 miles. Today that distance is about 100 miles.
“By Russian military calculations, they just can’t afford this kind of thing because it’s a military threat,” Koffler said.
All of these issues, Koffler says, suggest Putin feels trapped and will lash out in every possible way to get out of the proverbial corner, including cyber-attacks, satellite disruption, bombing civilian areas and using his nuclear capabilities when “pressure comes.” . to slide.”
“He’ll send his troops into the ground,” Koffler said, adding that he’ll “level up Kiev” if he thinks that’s “what he needs to do.”
