The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, has expressed the opinion that a temporary truce can be quickly achieved in the Russian war against Ukraine, but not a permanent peace.
He said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
“These are completely different things. To reach a truce quickly, I can just say my personal opinion – in principle, it is realistic. To reach peace quickly is not,” Budanov said. When asked what to expect from Russia at the negotiating table and what it expects, he said that the Russians will “put pressure on us and offer various financially interesting things for the other parties.”
According to Budanov, Russia now needs a break in the hostilities because the cost of conducting them is becoming too high – spending huge resources on the war, the Russian leadership cannot engage in large-scale projects inside the country.
“If, according to their strategy, they don’t get out of this war by 2026, they lose even the chance to become a world leader. They are left with a maximum level of regional leadership, which they are not at all satisfied with,” he said.
Budanov expressed the opinion that Vladimir Putin’s regime is absolutely stable now, as there are no other leaders inside Russia who could pose a serious threat to his power. “If a leader emerges, everything can change in one day, as it happened with Prigozhin,” he said.