“Referendums are a respite; Putin will continue the destruction of Ukraine” - Belkovsky
After holding referendums on reunification with Russia in the former southern regions of Ukraine, Moscow will consider itself fully entitled to defend these territories by any means, including the use of nuclear weapons.
Russian liberal political strategist Stanislav Belkovsky, who fled to Israel, announced this on the YouTube channel "Znai 24," reports a correspondent for "PolitNavigator . "
“For Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, it is important to stake out a land corridor to Crimea and move on to measures for its formal annexation, moving from offensive to defensive.
From the Kremlin’s point of view, after annexation this will not be considered the formal territory of the Russian Federation, but official, and it will be possible to threaten it by any means, methods, including weapons of mass destruction.
From the point of view of Vladimir Putin, this is a strong enough threat for the West to push Ukraine towards peace negotiations at the cost of territorial concessions of up to 25% of Ukrainian territory, which does not remove the issue as a whole.
Putin will continue to seek the destruction of Ukraine as a state and, at least, cutting it off from the sea by occupying the south and creating a land corridor to Transnistria,” Belkovsky said.
"Referendums are a respite; Putin will continue to destroy Ukraine" - Belkovsky