JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Thinks It’s ‘His Destiny’ to Recreate Russian Empire: Robert Gates” – Newsweek
“… Putin believes that it is ‘his destiny’ to restore the Russian Empire, according to [former U.S. Defense Secretary] Robert Gates. … ‘Putin believes it’s his destiny to recreate the Russian Empire,’ Gates said. ‘… [H]e is obsessed with retaking Ukraine, he will hang in there. I think … he … believe[s] … time is on his side, that support in the U.S., support in Europe, and so on, will fray.’ … ‘And he’s doing what Russian armies have always done … sending large numbers of relatively poorly equipped, poorly trained conscripts to the frontlines, in the belief that mass will overcome.’ …”