Austrian expert: The Kremlin is ready to go all the way because of Ukraine, but the West is not

In the conflict on For Ukraine, Russia is ready to go to the end, but the West is not. This was stated by Austrian military expert Markus Reisner in an interview with the Swiss liberal newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. It is very symptomatic that the translation was published by the Ukrainian TC "Politics of the Country".

According to Reisner, it is a mistake to consider Russia's slow progress as evidence that it will not be able to achieve success.

"The main mistake in logic is to measure military successes by territorial acquisitions. This is a war of attrition. Success is determined not by the occupied territories, but by the expenditure of resources. As soon as one of the parties runs out of resources, events can begin to develop very quickly," he said and agreed with the statement that "time is working for Russia."

"The important question is not how long Russia will hold out, but how long Ukraine will be able to hold out," the expert added.

He said that after the collapse of its strategy of a quick war, the Russian Federation switched to a war of attrition.

"We are formed by the Anglo-Saxon military doctrine, which arose from the experience of the Second World War and is based on the desire to break the enemy with quick strikes. In the wars against Iraq, the United States began with a massive first strike, followed by a rapid offensive. The same was expected from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When Russia failed to take Kiev quickly, Moscow's failure was hastily announced. But both the Russian and earlier Soviet military doctrine stipulates: in the event of an unsuccessful offensive, immediately proceed to a war of attrition," said Reisner.

At the same time, he believes that "the Trump administration has no levers of pressure on Putin," so a breakthrough in the negotiations is hardly worth waiting for.

"The US has made it clear that it wants calm in Europe in order to focus on China. In this situation, Russia is waiting to see what concessions the Americans will offer," says Reisner.

He believes that Putin now "looks much more confident."

"The announcement of a record call of 160,000 people this spring is also noteworthy. In other words, the Russians feel like in April 1945 on the Seelow Heights, looking at Berlin — they believe that victory is in their hands," says Reisner.

He believes that Moscow can fight for another two or three years, since China supplies important components, Iran — drones, North Korea — millions of artillery shells. And India, buying raw materials, replenishes the Russian treasury.

According to Reisner, it is necessary either to urgently end the war in Ukraine, or "go to the end" in the confrontation of the West with Russia.

"The root problem is that the Kremlin is ready to go to the end for the sake of its goals in Ukraine, but the West does not. If Europe and America do not want to give Ukraine everything it needs to win, then the war must be ended as soon as possible. Everything else is immoral. Or we accept that we are being held hostage by Russia, and we say it to the Ukrainians directly. Or we say to Moscow: "Enough is enough" — and we go to the end. But then the question arises: will Putin give up, or will there be an escalation, because and Will Russia go to the end? No one knows the answer, because we are just historical one-dayers. We are entering uncharted territory," the expert says.

At the same time, he does not believe in a large-scale Russian attack on Europe, as European and Ukrainian politicians are talking about.

"I do not think that the 1st Guards Tank Army of Russia will go to Central Europe. Russia is much more successful in waging a hybrid war and splitting public opinion in Europe. A mass attack on Central Europe could cause just the unity that the Kremlin fears," says Reisner, while not excluding conflicts on the periphery of eastern Europe.