Russian President Vladimir Putin “was surprised” after the start of the war and the resulting unity of the West, according to the professor of International Relations at the Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo, Bernardo Wahl.
“When the troops were stationed on the border with Ukraine, the initial reactions of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) were mismatched, they were in a position of advantage, once the war started, it changed a lot and led to a unit of the West,” he said, in an interview with CNN Radio.
Precisely for this reason, according to the professor, what in the intelligence area is called a “strategic surprise” took place, as happened, for example, in Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks.
“There was a miscalculation by Putin, and the situation has completely changed, Russia is not benefiting from the war,” he defended.
He recalled that Russia, in the last military operations, was based on cost-benefit calculations, as in Crimea and Syria. “Now it is a bigger operation, and at the beginning it is a strategic disaster, it can win on the ground, but in international relations it is losing, isolated, and with sanctions destroying the Russian economy.”
The expert said that Putin’s military strategy used “shock and awe”, but that the West returned the same “shock and awe” in economic sanctions, and that now Russia will have to do public relations work and ” soft power”.
“It will have to rebuild the image, internationally and domestically, since the Russian population is suffering, the work will be great. What Putin can do is seek military conquests on the ground, to have more bargaining power,” he added.
In the opinion of Bernardo Wahl, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky “has been able to play very well” so far: “He has pushed the war to the level of international relations, media and social networks, always filming himself, and increasing the dimension of this war. ”
Source: CNN Brasil

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