- CIA Director William Burns said the Russia-Ukraine war has caused multiple setbacks for President Vladimir Putin.
- In an op-ed in Foreign Affairs magazine, Burns said that for Putin, war “has proven to be foolish and illusory.”
- Burns said the invasion had weakened Russia’s military and economy.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crippled the country’s economy and left it dependent on China, said CIA Director William J. Burns.
“Russia’s economy is suffering a prolonged downturn, and Russia is sealing its fate as China’s economic vassal state,” Burns wrote in an op-ed in Foreign Affairs magazine on Tuesday.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it has struggled under crippling economic sanctions imposed by Western countries. But relations between Russia and China have only deepened, with bilateral trade reaching a record $240 billion in 2023, according to Chinese customs data.
“Putin’s war has already been a failure for Russia on many levels,” Burns wrote in the article. “His original goal of seizing Kiev and conquering Ukraine turned out to be foolish and illusory.”
Burns said the Ukraine war had caused “incalculable damage” to the Russian military.
“At least 315,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded, two-thirds of Russia’s pre-war tank inventory was destroyed, and President Putin’s much-vaunted decades-long military modernization program was hollowed out,” Burns said. I wrote it in an editorial.
Russia’s military and economic setbacks have led it to turn to countries such as North Korea and Iran for munitions.
“Putin’s grand ambitions backfired on another front, too: They encouraged the expansion and strengthening of NATO,” Burns said in the article.
The military alliance has grown in strength over the past year, with Finland joining in April. Sweden’s application to join NATO was approved by all member states except Hungary.
Mr Burns’ withering assessment of Putin and Russia was echoed by British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this month.
“The world has turned its back on Russia, and President Putin is forced to humiliate himself by tipping his hat to North Korea in order to continue his illegal aggression,” Grant Shapps wrote in the paper. ×post January 5th.
Representatives for Mr. Burns did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment outside of normal business hours.