Putin is Blinded by the Delusion of Grandeur: Condoleezza Rice

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in an interview with the BBC that the American administration will continue to support Ukraine after the 2024 presidential election, regardless of who becomes the next leader of the White House.

Currently the head of Stanford University's Hoover Institution for War, Revolution, and Peace, Rice discussed her personal experience in negotiations with President Putin. Among other topics, Rice was directly asked whether she acknowledged that Washington bears a moral responsibility for its insufficient diplomatic response to Russia's invasion of Georgia during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Notably, Rice was leading US diplomacy at that time.

Rice replied, “In 2008, the global financial crisis was at its peak, which complicated the prospect of imposing stricter economic sanctions. The American administration could have been pleased to provide Georgia with more significant assistance, but in the real world, such an opportunity simply did not exist.”

Regarding the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of military actions in Donbas, Rice pointed out that many within the American administration even then stated that they saw Ukraine's future in NATO and that this was the direction that needed to be pursued.

“Putin is blinded by the delusion of grandeur and is shocked by the West's response to the war in Ukraine. Perhaps creating some kind of 'buffer zone' at the expense of Ukrainian territory was a mistake. But I must say, the response that Putin received from the West this time, as a reaction to a large-scale invasion, likely shocked him. Because this time both America and Europe responded very seriously,” indicated former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.