Political Analyst: Putin Is Terribly Angry That Zelensky Did Not Break Down

• 24.05.2025, 20:27

There are a number of reasons that prevent Russia from ending the war.

Putin has long ago invented Russia's enemy - the West traditionally plays the role. But in the case of Ukraine, it is not just an enemy. Putin's internal hatred is already present here. And now it is directed, among other things, personally to Zelensky. This opinion was expressed by political scientist Vladimir Fesenko on the air of FREEDOM.

"His hatred for Zelensky has been gradually accumulating, and during the war, Putin does not hide it. I think that Zelensky may be the main enemy for him now, if we talk specifically about politicians in office. An enemy not only because of the fact of war. I think that Putin is terribly angry that Zelensky did not break down in the pre-war period, when they met at the negotiations in Paris. And already during the war it turned out that Zelensky is not as weak as Putin imagines. I think he causes Putin's animal aggression, hatred physically, not just as a psychological state," Fesenko noted.

Ukraine is also terribly irritating for Putin, he believes.

"Back in the summer of 2021, more than six months before the invasion, Putin wrote a big article where he actually justified theoretically, using pseudo-historical arguments, the denial of Ukraine. He actually justified war against Ukraine. Then it became clear that it was precisely about ideological, allegedly theoretical and historical justification of the war against Ukraine. But the fact of Putin's hatred for Ukraine is obvious," the political scientist stressed.

And many experts, according to him, not only Ukrainian, but also Western, believe that when it comes to the so-called root causes of the war, it is Putin himself.

"The root causes of the war are one of the favorite terms now of both Putin and Russian propaganda. When they try to somehow justify their unwillingness to negotiate the end of the war, they say that it is necessary to eliminate the "root causes". And in fact, the root cause of the war is Putin himself. Putin's denial of Ukraine. For him, Ukraine is the root cause of the war, the existence of an independent Ukraine, which wants to be independent, independent of Russia, to determine its own future, to determine its own allies, and not to be part of or a puppet of Russia. That is the root cause. And here is the root cause of the war - it is Putin himself, in fact. This is the main problem," said the speaker.

Putin's unwillingness to negotiate is caused by a complex of reasons, said the political scientist.

"There is a financial, economic and political factor. Many Russian experts, opposition experts in particular, believe that Putin is afraid to stop the war, because then various internal problems will start to emerge. And not only financial and economic ones. They are already there. And I think that gradually Putin is facing a dilemma. On the one hand, part of the population, oligarchs, especially those close to Putin, are making money from the war. And they don't want to stop it. And on the other hand, the cost of the war is increasing. It is already quite substantial for Russia," Fesenko emphasized.

The cessation of the war, he believes, will lead Russia to many problems, which they do not know how to cope with.

"Those who are now fighting at the front will return to the rear. There are many criminals among them. This is already a problem for Russia, and it will become even bigger. They were acquitted, and people who killed and raped will return. And it will be a huge crime problem. For Putin it is also such an internal irritant. He wanted a complete victory over Ukraine, but he cannot achieve it. So there are a number of reasons that prevent Putin from completing the war. And the further it goes, the more of these problems," said the political scientist.

In view of this, Fesenko believes that the main thing now is to increase the price of the war for the aggressor country.

"Putin has already become, I would say, a psychological and political slave of this war. He was its first cause, and now his very existence is political, connected with this war. And this is such a vicious circle, everything is locked really on Putin. And now the most important thing is to maximize the cost of the war for Russia, so that Putin and the Russian top brass have no other choice but to stop the war against Ukraine," the guest summarized.