Putin tries to disguise his goals for Ukraine
The Kremlin has not abandoned its "maximalist goals" of controlling Ukraine but has partially veiled them in order to confuse Western countries and persuade Kyiv to negotiate.
As analysts recalled, on November 21, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the change of the current government in Ukraine is not the goal of Russia's "special military operation", and Russian leader Vladimir Putin "has already spoken about it".
On October 26, Putin said that Ukraine had "lost its sovereignty" and was fully under NATO control, and on October 27, he again rejected Ukraine's sovereignty, saying that the country was "created" by Russia. He also consistently defends the thesis that Ukraine is a Nazi state that should be "denazified".
"Putin's demands are tantamount to a demand for regime change, even if he does not explicitly call for it in his recent statements. The fact that Peskov refers to these comments by Putin makes it highly doubtful that Russia will seriously back down from its goals," the report says.
Putin and his team are very eager to put the war on hold for some time by any means. It is necessary to gather resources to stop retreating and suffering losses. For the sake of negotiations, there is a stream of statements that contradict each other, as well as what was declared earlier.
Thus, on November 21, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov agreed that Russia does not aim to change the government in Ukraine. This statement contradicts the previous statements of the Kremlin.
When asked whether the change of power in Ukraine is one of the goals of the "special operation", Peskov replied: "No, the president has already spoken about it". Peskov was also unable to comment on Zelenskyy's remarks that the Kremlin seeks negotiations not for peace but for respite. To this he said: "Russia wants to achieve its goals, and it will achieve them." That is, he said a phrase that does not relate at all to what he was asked to say.
Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 25/11/2022
