Russian President Vladimir Putin feels disrespected by the West and wants to be respected and feared instead, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Jim Townsend says.
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00:00Now, we've heard Donald Trump this week calling Russia's war in Ukraine a ridiculous war.
00:05He did say he could end that war, didn't he, with a single telephone call some months ago.
00:10That doesn't seem to have happened.
00:12We've also just heard from Moscow in the last few hours saying it's waiting for signals
00:17from the United States and calling for respectful dialogue.
00:20Is there a sense that they think the United States is being disrespectful here?
00:25Well, I think Putin has always felt that he was being treated poorly by the West, that
00:33he considered Russia a superpower still, even though the Cold War and the Soviet Union had
00:38gone away, and that he should be treated as an equal to the United States.
00:43That helped to really ruin the relationship with NATO, where he felt that he was being
00:47treated just like any other non-NATO nation.
00:52So I noticed that as well in his statement.
00:55He still wants this respect and not to be dismissed or seen as weak.
00:59He wants to be seen as strong.
01:01He wants to be feared.