Insider: Putin Advisers More Likely To Kill Him Than Criticize Him

By Susie Madrak — March 11, 2022

Andrei Kozyrev, who was the Russian foreign minister under Boris Yeltsin, tells Ari Melber that Putin is not likely to hear about setbacks to his war effort in Ukraine from advisers.

"That is less possible than overthrow him. That's Russian tradition. They swear to tell the boss the truth, but one day they might come with a weapon and it's got him either to the grave or to retirement." Kozyrev said. Malcolm Nance and Katty Kay react.

The panel also discusses reports that Putin may use chemical weapons in the war.

Kozyrev, who is active on Twitter, explains why he does not believe Putin will use nuclear weapons:

If Ukraine’s government cannot be kept independent and pro-Kremlin covertly, as he likely concluded, then he will overtly force it to be. He also started to believe his own propagandists that Ukraine is run by a Nazi-Bandera junta. Perfect pretext to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

2. Russian military. The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military. Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead. Potemkin military

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

3. The West. The Russian ruling elite believed its own propaganda that Pres. Biden is mentally inept. They also thought the EU was weak because of how toothless their sanctions were in 2014. And then the U.S. botched its withdrawal from Afghanistan, solidifying this narrative.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

If you believe all three of the above to be true and your goal is to restore the glory of the Russian Empire (whatever that means), then it is perfectly rational to invade Ukraine.

He miscalculated on all three, but that doesn’t make him insane. Simply wrong and immoral.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

So, in my opinion, he is rational. Given that he is rational, I strongly believe he will not intentionally use nuclear weapons against the West. I say intentionally because indiscriminate shelling near a nuclear power plant can cause an unintentional nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

I will take it a step further. The threat of nuclear war is another example of his rationality. The Kremlin knows it can try to extract concessions, whether from Ukraine or the West, by saber-rattling its last remaining card in the deck: nuclear weapons.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

The ultimate conclusion here is that the West should not agree to any unilateral concessions or limit its support of Ukraine too much for the fear of nuclear war.

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

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