There are a number of elements at play, one of which is that the West would not stand strong and unified, and the US would not be strongly connected with its European friends.

Retired top MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who summarized a highly controversial ‘dossier’ about Donald Trump’s relations with Putin and Russia, which shocked the world with its unverified accusations of a notorious “golden shower,” believes Russia’s war in Ukraine will not end soon, but it could be the start of Vladimir Putin’s downfall.

Christopher Steele has both good and bad news to share with us. The bad news is that he believes Russia’s conflict in Ukraine will last months, if not longer, and will be accompanied by more crimes and civilian targets.

“Putin’s main objective was regime change and this hasn’t happened – thus, it’s a failure, though he doesn’t admit it.”

The good news is that he believes this is the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s demise.

“Russia will not be perceived, either abroad or at home, as having won this war,” he says. “And in my view, no government could survive a defeat in the war – particularly a war against an adversary that is smaller and was ridiculed by them to begin with.”

Steele is an expert on the subject. He was the British Secret Intelligence Service’s (MI6) Moscow station chief before returning to its London headquarters to lead the Russian desk.

He was also responsible for briefing British prime ministers and foreign secretaries on Russian issues. There’s no need to explain British intelligence’s traits and capabilities these days. Its accuracy is being demonstrated practically every day in the Ukraine conflict, which is already in its seventh week.

According to him, “there’s a lot of factors involved” that may explain why Putin decided to attack Ukraine.

He thinks “one of them definitely is perceived divisions and weakness in the West.”

And “the final straw was the chaotic [U.S.] evacuation of Kabul last summer,” which according to him, “encouraged him [Putin] to believe the West wouldn’t stand strong, united, and that the United States would not be closely allied with its European allies. Russia only views the West in terms of it being an adversary.”

He also believes that “the way in which Ukraine itself was developing: It was becoming much more, although not a perfect democracy or a perfect economy by any stretch – there was a lot of corruption that involved the oligarchs there, as there is in Russia,” he thinks “overall the trend was toward rapprochement with the European Union, toward closer cooperation with NATO.”

And when “Trump left the White House,” according to him, “Putin had no confidence that he could stop the Americans encouraging Ukraine and its westward-leaning tendencies.”

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