CIA head accuses Russian spy chief of ‘cockiness’ and ‘hubris’ after ‘dispiriting’ latest assembly – ofbut information

CIA Director William Burns mentioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his spy chief confirmed “hubris” and “cockiness” after latest discussions with Moscow, however warned that such attitudes may result in “blunders” for authoritarian leaders.

Mr Burns sat for a wide-ranging interview with CBS News‘ Margaret Brennan and revealed his perspective on the Russian leaders’ perspective.

Brennan famous that Mr Putin has “about three or 4 individuals” who knew he was planning the invasion of Ukraine final yr. Mr Burns confirmed it was true, saying Mr Putin has been narrowing the quantity of people that have direct entry to his planning, typically prioritising “loyalty over competence.”

“It was a gaggle of people that tended to inform him what he needed to listen to, and- or at the least had realized over time that it wasn’t profession enhancing to query his judgments as nicely,” Mr Burns mentioned. “And in order that was one of many deepest flaws I feel, in Russian decision-making simply earlier than the battle because it was such an in depth circle of individuals reinforcing each other’s profoundly mistaken assumptions.”

When requested if any of his interior circle give him counsel, Mr Burns mentioned he believes that Mr Putin has “grow to be more and more satisfied that he is aware of higher than anybody else what’s at stake for Russia.”

Brennan requested the CIA director about latest discussions he had with Russian officers, noting that he had referred to as them “dispiriting.”

Mr Burns mentioned Sergey Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Overseas Intelligence Service, the SVR, has had a “very defiant perspective”, with a “sense of cockiness and hubris”.

He mentioned that hubris was obvious in what he believes to be Mr Putin’s miscalculations forward of his invasion of Ukraine final yr.

“He believed that Ukraine was weak and divided, he thought the West was distracted, and he thought he had modernized the Russian navy to the purpose the place it was able to a fast, decisive victory,” he mentioned. “In fact, it turned out that every of these assumptions was profoundly flawed.”

The CIA chief mentioned that regardless of these flawed assumptions, Mr Putin is satisfied he can grind down the Ukrainian forces over time and that People will finally lose curiosity in supporting Kyiv’s defence efforts.

“[Mr Putin] believes he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can put on down our European allies, that political fatigue will finally set in. And in my expertise, Putin’s view of People, of us, has been that we now have consideration deficit dysfunction, and we’ll transfer on to another concern finally,” Mr Burns mentioned. “And so Putin, in some ways, I feel, believes in the present day that he can not win for some time, however he cannot afford to lose. I imply, that is his conviction.”

Brennan famous that Russia had suffered important casualties in Ukraine, calling it a “meat grinder” for Moscow’s navy, which incorporates a good portion of conscripts, and requested if that had sobered Mr Putin in any respect.

The CIA head mentioned that Mr Putin is “definitely not a sentimentalist concerning the lack of Russian life,” however mentioned that there was nonetheless “lots of hubris that continues to be connected to Putin and his view of the battle.”

Nevertheless, Mr Burns mentioned that such “hubris” and energy consolidation may additionally blind Mr Putin as he believes it did forward of the invasion of Ukraine.

“And as we have seen in, , in the place Putin’s hubris has now gotten Russia, and the horrors that he is … dropped at the individuals of Ukraine,” he mentioned. “In that type of a system, a really closed decision-making system when no one challenges, , the authority of their insights of an authoritarian chief, you can also make some big blunders as nicely.”