Putin Forced to Fight, Says Serbian President

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, speaking about the situation surrounding Ukraine, suggested that he understands the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, in his opinion, has no room to retreat and is forced to fight. The Serbian leader expressed his views in an interview with Euronews Serbia yesterday.

“I could say a lot, but I am not an analyst, I am a president. However, I think I know Putin better than 99.9 percent of the world's politicians. I feel that I can understand what is going on in his mind. I believe the West surprised him in the first three to four days, but then... he found himself in a situation where there was no room for retreat, and he had to fight, and now he is surprising the West more than the West is surprising him,” Vučić believes.

In 2015, Putin, while speaking at the Valdai Forum about the involvement of Russian armed forces in military operations in Syria, recounted a principle he learned on the streets of Leningrad: “If the fight is inevitable, you must strike first.” Thus, added the Russian president, it is better to combat terrorists far from the borders than to wait for them to come to Russian territory.