Vladimir Putin’s “whole economy, his whole society, his whole politics, his whole preservation of self revolves around having this war go on”, Fiona Hill, who was Donald Trump’s adviser on Russia in his first presidential term, has told The Independent in an exclusive interview.
She says that Putin knows exactly how to manipulate the US president and has no intention of stopping the war in Ukraine. The Russian president’s reason for taking part in peace talks is that he hopes Mr Trump will bully the Ukrainians into surrender – or, if not explicit surrender, then a ceasefire agreement that so weakens them that Russian forces will be able to finish the job later.
