VIDEO: Is Putin intentionally provoking the West?

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

PBS News Hour interviews Russia scholar Kimberly Marten about Russia’s unfolding relations with the West. [click here for transcript]

Said Marten:

I think part of what’s going on is that Putin is trying to take attention off of the problems that the Russian economy is facing.  The sanctions are working much better than … predicted … they’re having real impact on the Russian oil industry … one of the major contributors to the Russian budget.  … the United States and the Europeans are holding together on those sanctions, much better than people thought … and now, even proposing more sanctions.

And so, I think that what Putin needs to do is create an enemy in order to justify what’s happening to the economy, to get people to be motivated by a patriotic fervor in supporting him.  … he’s trying to provoke the West, trying to provoke the United States into taking some kind of action that justifies what he’s doing.

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