Probably, he expected Ukraine to fall shortly after the Russian troops entered the country. I read rumours that there were hidden agents in Kiev tasked with acts of sabotage. Most of them sabotaged their sabotage, because they knew how ill-prepared and untimely the whole operation was and that they were risking their lives if they sided with the Kremlin. Putin obviously had a plan in his head. And, as the subsequent events showed, that plan was spectacularly flawed. Publicly disregarding the failure, he decided to go forth with it, tweaking it on the go, while killing people of both nations in desperate attempts to “save face”.
The widespread opinion is that Putin's invasion is a crime. I would argue that it was a mistake. In politics, a mistake is infinitely worse than a crime, because a crime, no matter how terrible, can be an instrument in achieving a goal. If the goal is achieved, the crime gets vocally condemned but defacto is forgiven. But a mistake is a sign of incompetence, which cannot be forgiven neither by foes, nor by friends. Let alone persisting in that incompetence, which resulted in a war, which in itself is worse than all conceivable crimes combined.
Seems like planning never was Putin's forte. For 20+ years he's been in power, he never managed to explain to the country and the people what our goals are, ignoring among other things the crucial matters of politics with other countries on the post-Soviet space, including, most prominently, Ukraine.
Had Putin left office in 2008, he'd have gone down in history as Russia's greatest ruler, who managed to secure never before seen prosperity without violence and exploitation. Now I see him as a power hungry maniac incapable of admitting that he wasn't the only smart and competent person in the country.
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