Jim Townsend: Putin wants to be feared

AlArabiya English

Russian President Vladimir Putin feels disrespected by the West and wants to be respected and feared instead, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Jim Townsend says.

Transcript

00:00Now, we've heard Donald Trump this week calling Russia's war in Ukraine a ridiculous war.

00:05He did say he could end that war, didn't he, with a single telephone call some months ago.

00:10That doesn't seem to have happened.

00:12We've also just heard from Moscow in the last few hours saying it's waiting for signals

00:17from the United States and calling for respectful dialogue.

00:20Is there a sense that they think the United States is being disrespectful here?

00:25Well, I think Putin has always felt that he was being treated poorly by the West, that

00:33he considered Russia a superpower still, even though the Cold War and the Soviet Union had

00:38gone away, and that he should be treated as an equal to the United States.

00:43That helped to really ruin the relationship with NATO, where he felt that he was being

00:47treated just like any other non-NATO nation.

00:52So I noticed that as well in his statement.

00:55He still wants this respect and not to be dismissed or seen as weak.

00:59He wants to be seen as strong.

01:01He wants to be feared.

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