Putin Ally Says Invasion of Ukraine Was 'Ill-Prepared'

A former advisor to Vladimir Putin has said that if given the opportunity, he would have canceled the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine because it was "ill-prepared."

Sergei Markov supports the war and is a close Putin ally but said that the plan to change "the political regime" in Kyiv and establish effective control over Ukrainian areas "viewed as pro-Russian" had not been fulfilled.

"This means that it wasn't properly prepared for. This is the big question for the future. I would cancel it, prepare for it and then conduct it," he said in an interview with former editor-in-chief of the independent Echo of Moscow radio station, Alexei Venediktov, who is a critic of Putin and his invasion.

A regular feature on Kremlin media outlets, Markov is a professor of international relations at Moscow University. He has previously criticized Russian military shortcomings in Ukraine and said in January that "Russia has already taken several steps towards its defeat."

In a clip shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Russia watcher Julia Davis, Markov said that Putin "has this old logic…when a fight in the back alley is unavoidable, strike first," having claimed that Ukraine "would start military actions" in the Donbas region.

Venediktov challenged this by saying that Russia had recognized the area as Ukrainian territory until three days before the start of the full-scale invasion.

Markov went on a tangent in which he accused Ukraine of being run by a "system of terror" and that American and British intelligence were part of the "deep state" that helped get Volodymyr Zelensky elected. He said they had ordered the Ukrainian leader to "fight against Russians and the Russian language."

Markov said that the high death toll from the war, especially among Russian soldiers, showed how the "operation wasn't prepared. The idea was that no one would die."

Venediktov then asked whether Markov would run for president in 2024, given that he thought Putin had botched the plan for the war in Ukraine. Markov said that he would not because Putin, who declared last week he would stand for a fifth term, "is much more popular with the people."

"You just said that he incorrectly planned the operation" Venediktov said, prompting Markov to reply: "I think he does so too."

"Venediktov demonstrated how easy it is to shred the fallacies of Putin's ilk," wrote Davis next to the clip.

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