Vladimir Putin wants to seize Odessa before Russia’s presidential election in March because Russian support for his so-called „special military operation“ is waning and he needs legitimacy. This was stated by the security expert from the „Razumkov“ Research Center Oleksiy Melnik to Obozrevatel, Fakti reported.

Much that will happen inside Russia itself and along the Russian-Ukrainian line will also depend on how confident Putin and his entourage are that they are guaranteed to win the election. After all, according to all the conventions of Russian sovereign democracy, they still need legitimation. And now Russia has serious problems with it.

Because in Russia there is a tendency to reduce support for the so-called SVO. That is, both interest in it and pro-patriotic, pro-Kremlin sentiments have significantly decreased. Therefore, Putin wants to demonstrate successes on the front line.

The idea of annexing more Ukrainian territories has never been abandoned in the Kremlin. They call Odessa and Kharkiv „originally Russian“.

Russia is constantly trying to create chaos somewhere and then rule it. What General Petraeus was talking about (that Putin would threaten other countries, for example Moldova) is a realistic scenario if Russia is allowed to achieve a military victory in Ukraine. Both the Moldovans themselves and the President of Moldova have repeatedly said that the fate of Moldova today depends on Ukraine.

Of course, it cannot be said that Russia will immediately attack the Baltic states, but the fact that the level of threat to them will increase significantly is also an absolutely obvious fact, Melnik noted.Putin will do anything to capture this Black Sea city before the elections, experts say

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