U.S. trying to save Russia from self-destruction — expert

Serhii Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, stated this on Espreso TV.

"There's really only one serious card to play - essentially, to submit to China. In other words, Putin can and is directly playing this card, like a bride on the marriage market, saying 'who will offer more and whom will I marry.' Of course, the Americans have a very direct interest, which has been voiced repeatedly by their diplomats, to pull Russia away from China as much as possible. China doesn't like this story; they truly consider Russia to be, well, a raw materials appendage, their proxy, even if it's not called that - formally they're not in such a vassal relationship, but in reality, we understand that it's Russia's geography that determines its politics," he said.

Serhii Kuzan believes the United States is trying to save Russia from self-destruction.

"And what the United States is doing now, what they're doing, is essentially trying to somehow save Russia from self-destruction. Well, for Putin the story here is very simple. The key thing for him is preserving his power. He understands perfectly well that he's spent their entire National Welfare Fund on this war. He understands perfectly well that he's squandered all those Arctic projects, all the logistics in the Far East, in the north of the Russian Federation - he's squandered all these logistics projects on the war. And now there's only one question: 'Offer me something - why shouldn't I just throw everything away and slam the door,' to put it in simple terms," he added.