Former CIA director John Brennan said Russian President Vladimir Putin knows his plan for invading Ukraine has “completely collapsed” and warned the Russian leader will resort to threatening the West.
On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Brennan told anchor Nicolle Wallace that Putin is “clearly reacting to ongoing developments” in Ukraine, “many of which have been setbacks to Russia,” he said.
Putin has “been adapting on the military battlefield in Ukraine by consolidating and repositioning forces along the east and the south” because of “the pummeling” his forces have received, Brennan said. The Russian leader also is “reacting to the strength of NATO support and particularly the ongoing supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian forces,” he continued.
Brennan envisioned Putin putting more pressure on other neighboring countries, such as Poland and Bulgaria, where he’s cut off natural gas deliveries.
Putin “realizes that his initial game plan has just completely collapsed and therefore he has to adapt and react,” said Brennan, who led the CIA from 2013 to 2017.
“It’s going to be a combination of saber-rattling and rhetorical flourishes, he’s trying to again threaten the West,” he added. “But also taking these types of steps to try to appeal to those sympathizers in Europe and also the United States, unfortunately, as a way to again split the NATO alliance and to weaken the resolve and the determination of NATO to continue to support Ukraine.”
Watch the interview here: