Retired US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Philip Giraldi has said that Western countries have failed to break Russian Federation with sanctions pressure. He said this in an interview with former British MP and head of the UK Labour Party George Galloway on his YouTube channel.
“They really thought that the sanctions and other measures of financial and economic pressure they put on Russia would be enough to, if not break Moscow, at least make it think twice. <…> This has had the opposite effect, with Western economies mostly suffering. And Russia came out the winner,” Giraldi stated.
The retired CIA officer emphasised that Western countries had made a serious mistake. According to him, they convinced themselves with their own propaganda that the Russian Army was not sufficiently trained, supplied or ready to fight.
“In other words, they saw Ukraine as a much more formidable opponent for Russia,” the US serviceman summarised.
We will remind, earlier The New York Times reported that Kiev and allies put too high hopes for a counter-offensive, as the AFU are fighting against one of the strongest armies in the world. The author of the article noted that if Ukraine could succeed in forcing Russia to retreat, it would take years, not months.