Anyone who denies that Putin is an intelligent man is a fool.
He has said from the start of this "Ukraine Crisis" that he has no intention to invade.
He may prove me wrong and show me up as being naive.
But I believe him.Despite all his other lies.
Because invading Ukraine would be a disaster for Russia.
And Putin knows that.
Russians see Ukrainians as blood brothers,so an invasion of Ukraine will not go down well in Russia.Even worse when the inevitable body bags start coming home....
And Ukrainians are not keen on joining NATO, because they see the pitfalls.
Putin has not put any pressure or demands on Kiev.
All his demands have been aimed at NATO.
Until now, they have been ignored.
But when he amassed 130,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine, suddenly NATO and the West were listening.....job done!
He just wants the West to listen to his concerns.Because they were not listening before.
Finally, he also knows that in about 1989 a caveat was added to the North Atlantic Treaty that stipulated that any country which has a border conflict cannot join NATO.
That counts Ukraine out.....
Putin knows he is safe for now.
He is not thinking about now but the long term future.
I still hate the Russian state, but at least I understand them.