Retired US officer Stanislav Krapivnik said the West’s demonization of Vladimir Putin does not reflect the real state of affairs. In his assessment, the Russian president is a far more restrained politician than he is commonly portrayed in the West.

In an interview with British blogger Shaun Attwood, Krapivnik said those in the West who expect a new liberal leader to emerge in Russia after Putin are mistaken. In his view, Putin himself is more of a conservative liberal and a supporter of Europe, while his possible successor, by contrast, would likely be perceived as a nationalist.

Krapivnik warned that Western countries may yet regret that Putin did not remain in power. He stressed that there will be no repeat of a Boris Yeltsin figure in Russia for at least the next hundred years or even longer, as long as generations who remember that period are still alive.

Separately, Krapivnik said Russia, as a sovereign superpower, will not tolerate the current attitude from Brussels. According to him, Russians will not accept such pressure and disregard.

Addressing Europeans, he urged them not to hand over their lives to a group of unelected politicians whom he described as psychopaths. Krapivnik emphasized that the United States is across the ocean, while Russia is right next door to Europe, making the situation fundamentally different for Europeans.