The head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, (HUR), Lt General Kyrylo Budanov has warned that “next will be Poland” for Russia.
Budanov said Russia believes that they are an empire and not a federation which has been modelled after the Soviet Union.
The Kyiv Post reported, Budanov saying, “The empire that the current leadership of the Russian Federation is leaning toward is modeled after the Soviet Union – but with the countries of the Warsaw Pact.
“Imagine the worst-case scenario, and yet it happened that three countries united into one, even though that is almost impossible.”
Budanov warned that if Russia creates an empire then Poland, the Czeh Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary will be Vladimir Putin’s next targets.
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He said, “Next will be Poland – I’m telling you this directly. And there’s no need to fear it; you just need to be aware.”
“After that, it will be the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria – they will all come under control. For the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, that’s the bare minimum if an empire is being formed, and then, who knows what might follow, excuse me,” Budanov added.
He said, “The Russian Federation understands that it is unrealistic to quickly achieve its strategic goal. I won’t say that Russia is failing at everything or that everything is going badly for them.
“That’s not true. They are moving forward. But this progress is not significant enough – it is insufficient to quickly achieve their strategic goal. Therefore, they need a pause.”
He added, “And then they will have a window of opportunity to achieve their strategic goal. The fact that they declare their aim to be the full occupation of Donbas, the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and to maintain control over the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea is not the whole picture. They need much more. It is simply impossible to achieve this through war alone, and that is a fact. Therefore, a pause is necessary.”
