Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned on Friday, a year after the war in Ukraine, that if she could send one message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it would be that if he continued on the same way, Russia will eventually become “a great North Korea”.
“The message I would give him is, this is not going to end well, because your country is going to be one big North Korea, is that the legacy you want to leave?” Rice said, who was secretary of state to the government. of George W. Bush between 2005 and 2009 and his national security adviser for the previous four years, during a roundtable organized by the Brookings Institution in Washington.
He gave several facts about the sharp decline that Russia has been experiencing since it decided to invade Ukraine, starting with the effects on its economy, which is turning into a “wasteland”, or the fact that 800,000 Russians , of which “the best and the brightest”, have left their country.
He also felt that Putin “depended” on the Wagner mercenary group to continue this fight, jeopardized all his military capabilities and had obtained that his “place” on the international scene was “subordinate to China”.
For all these reasons, he felt that if he could send a message to Putin it would be that “he has already lost what he hoped to achieve” and that if he continues on this path, his country will be far from being able to defend Russian “pride” on the international stage, and it will be, instead, a “greater North Korea”.
Also speaking at the same podium, Stephen Hadley, who was national security adviser to the administration of George W. Bush between 2005 and 2009, and who warned that Putin “is not going to give up on his dream, that of restoring the Russian Empire with the territory of the former Soviet Union. And it starts with Ukraine.
However, he added that if Putin found he was not achieving his goals, he could take a “pause” which should be used to give Ukraine all the weapons, training and help in matters. intelligence it needs to be able to launch a counter-offensive, if possible. .during this year.