Former President Francois Hollande said Wednesday on BFMTV that Vladimir Putin was trying to “hide a defeat” from the Russians. Commenting on the Russian president’s speech on Friday, the former head of state said:
“I have met with Vladimir Putin several times, so I know what to listen to, what to believe and what to fear at some point.”
Last Friday, the Kremlin leader also formalized the annexation of four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and Zaporizhia and Kherson (south). He stated that the inhabitants of these territories had “returned to their historical homeland” and called on Kyiv to cease “all hostilities and return to the negotiating table.” According to François Hollande, they were just appearances.
“It was a presentation and he knew it perfectly, it was a piece of propaganda while covering up a defeat as his army withdraws”, while the initial intention was “to conquer all of Ukraine”, says the former leader.
“Vladimir Putin is in a weak position, because he is politically isolated, economically fragile and militarily in retreat,” he said again.
In fact, the Russian military has suffered setbacks in Ukraine for just over a month. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the reconquest of the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region by Ukrainian forces. A military map shown Tuesday by the Russian Defense Ministry also shows a significant decrease in Russian forces in the northern Kherson region of southern Ukraine.
This map, compared to the one from the previous day, shows that Russian forces have abandoned a large number of towns, including Dudtchany, on the west bank of the Dnieper River, while the Ukrainian army is carrying out a counter-offensive in this region.
Putin ‘fearful’ when he ‘pretends to be nice’
Having met several times with the Russian president, when he was still his counterpart, François Hollande gave some details about the personality of Vladimir Putin in the relations between the leaders. According to him, the Russian president is “always alternating between hot and cold”, “saying that a solution must be found” and then “preventing it”. He can show “attention” in front of his interlocutors, such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“I would often compliment him and Angela Merkel would tell me ‘that’s when he’s most formidable, that’s when he pretends to be nice,'” says François Hollande.
As Putin told himself in September ready to use against the West “all means” in its arsenal, including nuclear “If Russia’s national interests are ever threatened”, François Hollande assures that he “obviously boasts”, even if it is necessary to “always take the risks of escalation seriously”.
Source: BFM TV
