Editor of The Guardian magazine, British Luke Harding was in Ukraine when the Russian invasion began and has been following the events in the country ever since. He thinks the war will be long.
Harding has worked in several different countries as a war reporter and was a Moscow correspondent. Russia deported him in 2011.
The situation is deadlocked and everyone is expecting an attack from Ukraine in the coming weeks.
– The big question is whether Ukraine can kick the Russians out of the east and Crimea, says Harding.
He thinks that the attack is headed south and that Ukraine is trying to cut off the land connection from Crimea to eastern Ukraine.
– They are probably trying to get to the city of Melitopol. We don’t know for sure, but it would make sense, says Harding.
According to Harding, the question is how far the Ukrainians can go. The United States has doubted the real possibilities of Ukraine to get the territories back.
– Everyone has always underestimated the Ukrainians and I wonder how far they would be able to advance.
According to Harding, Ukraine needs more arms aid, but there is never enough. He is happy about the cooperation between Britain and the European Union in this matter.
He criticizes Germany for being slow to give support to Ukraine. According to him, the EU should try to prevent boredom with the situation in Ukraine and politicians should be careful.
Harding strongly condemns Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
– I have seen basements where Russian soldiers kept young men and shot them in the head, he says.
– It is fascism on the European continent.
Espionage in NATO-Helsinki is increasing
In his new book, Invasion, Russia’s Bloody War, and Ukraine’s Struggle for Survival, Harding claims that U.S. President Joe Biden warned the President of the Republic in December 2021 To Sauli Niinistö about the invasion of Ukraine.
Tieto made Niinistö seize the opportunity to guide Finland into NATO membership. Harding bases his information on his sources who lived in Finland.
– The president was sat down and told to “look at this material”, describes Harding.
What was interesting to him was the fact that Niinistö believed the information, even though the French and Germans still had different opinions.
In Harding’s opinion, NATO membership gives Finland the opportunity to sleep peacefully, because if the United States and Russia started a direct conflict, Russia would lose in weeks or months.
– An invincible alliance brings security to Finland. You have a long border, so it brings balance to the border area, says Harding.
He believes that Russian espionage in Finland will only increase with NATO membership.
Watch the video to see how Harding describes the future espionage.
According to Harding, the latest information leak in the United States plays into Ukraine’s pocket, as it showed that American intelligence also has access deep into Russia.
– According to my sources, the Ukrainians have not been harmed by the leak, says Harding.
– The attack plans were not compromised and this only supports the requests for arms.
He believes that the 21-year-old arrested American man is really behind the leak. According to Harding, it is interesting to consider why the man had access to secret information. According to him, the distribution list in the United States has traditionally been very extensive.
Putin has good doctors, but time is ticking
According to Harding, the Russian president Vladimir Putin is not so sick that he immediately loses power. Putin’s health condition comes up regularly in the media.
– European intelligence chiefs have told me that we only know that Putin has the best doctors traveling with him, says Harding.
According to him, Ukrainians believe that Putin uses doppelgängers in some situations, but the claim has not been confirmed.
– He is a 70-year-old Russian man. The truth is, sooner or later time will run out, no matter how much he wishes otherwise, says Harding.
According to Harding, the potential fall of Putin’s regime is not about whether Putin will back down, but whether the entire Putinist system will fall. He fears that after Putin there will be a new similar leader who will only emphasize the war against the West.
– Unfortunately, there is a long way to go before a more democratic, transparent and better Russia emerges. If that happens, I’ll probably be using a walker by then, thinks Harding.
It is hard to guess that he is Putin’s successor, but the oligarch leading the Wagner forces Yevgeny Prigozhin clearly wants power.
– He presents himself as a brave frontline leader, which Putin is not. But whether he has a chance, I don’t know, says Harding.
Harding estimates that the Russian opposition can influence the country’s affairs only on a moral level. He does not believe that the opposition politician sitting in prison Alexei Navalny gets out of prison alive.