‘This Strategy Will Bring Putin To His Knees’
5- 10.02.2025, 16:58
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How to force the Russian dictator to abandon his expansionist ambitions.
The West can crush Russia's war machine and force Putin to the negotiating table with a Cold War-style strategy.
Ian Brzezinski, a former deputy assistant US Secretary of Defense for Europe and Nato policy, has said this in an interview for The Sun.
He believes Moscow is defeatable in Ukraine, but only if the West fully leverages its economic and military dominance.
Instead of seeking a negotiated settlement, he says the focus should be on overwhelming Russia's capacity to continue the war.
"I feel the Russians will continue the war and have the capacity to drive forward for quite a long time. I do think that Russia is defeatable in this war. And to do that doesn't mean that one should run to Russia asking for a deal to end the war. One has to get into the Soviet mindset,” Brzezinski underlined.
The former deputy assistant US Secretary of Defense for Europe and Nato policy added that to accelerate the breaking point, the West must apply the same tactics that helped undermine the Soviet Union.
That includes ramping up military support for Ukraine, tightening the economic stranglehold on Russia, and launching an aggressive information campaign targeting Moscow’s political elite.
Brzezinski explains that the goal is to force Putin to focus inward, worrying more about his own survival than his expansionist ambitions.
Now, as history repeats itself, only a return to Cold War tactics can finally bring Putin to his knees, says the former deputy assistant US Secretary of Defense for Europe and Nato policy.
Brzezinski also told the journalists that Nato defence spending, currently rising, is already ten times Russia's estimated $120-$150 billion annual military budget.
Despite this overwhelming advantage, the West has so far failed to exercise its full power to end the war on Ukraine's terms — and is yet to deliver a true knockout to Putin's economy and war machine.
“We have yet to really body slam the Russian economy. We can do that,” Brzezinski said.
“We haven’t, and this allows the Russian war machine to drive forward.”
Brzezinski believes a more aggressive approach — such as cutting off all access to Western financial systems and targeting Russia’s energy revenue streams — could force Moscow into a crisis it cannot survive. Another key factor is undermining Putin at home by engaging the Russian people.
He added that the most decisive step is fast-tracking Ukraine into Nato to give it lasting security guarantees.
He explained: “That is probably the only thing that will convince Putin that Ukraine is no longer in the grey zone, vulnerable to his ambitions.”
Even if a ceasefire is reached, lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine is unlikely for generations, the expert says. He underlines that the brutality of Russia's invasion has created wounds too deep to heal anytime soon.
“That’s a consequence of the savagery and the butchery that the Russians have executed on Russian territory against Ukrainians,” he said.
The expert believes that as long as Putin’s in office, it will be very difficult for Ukraine to have a peaceful relationship with Russia. Instead, the best-case scenario would have been a long but stable confrontation, similar to the Cold War.
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