4min chapter

The Intercept Briefing  cover image

Ukraine on the Offensive

The Intercept Briefing

CHAPTER

Why Did Putin Wage This War?

Rajan: I don't think it was the case that Russia faced a mortal peril or an existential threat as people say necessitated this war. My own hunch is that during the COVID period, nobody saw him, he was in isolation,. He was marinating himself in the histories of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. And there emerged a separate Putin. This was not a war that he took after wide consultation with this group. So my own views have evolved and some of my friends who were with me in the battle against NATO expansion are not pretty please. It's where I am for better or for worse.

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