Vladimir Putin “gambled” with his invasion of Ukraine but “doesn’t have a reverse gear” a former MI6 spy boss has warned.
Sir Alex Younger, former head of the SIS, Secret Intelligence Service, from 2014 to 2020, warned BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that the Russian leader would not back down after his invasion.
Even in face of the number of difficulties the Kremlin’s invasion has ran into, Sir Alex Younger said Putin would keep pushing.
He said: "Putin does not have a reverse gear. He gambled.
"He has hit extraordinary difficulties early on but he's going to keep going and he has to, because he went into this war with a false premise, and he needs to be seen to be bringing something back from it."
On top of that the former top-spy said that only China could influence Putin and potentially stop his invasion.
Want all the latest news and analysis from Ukraine? Sign up to our World News Bulletin here
He said: "Of all the people in the world that can assert influence on Vladimir Putin, who is in his bunker and who is obsessed by achieving greatness through the restoration of the Russian Empire..., of all the people that can talk sense to him, it's Xi (Jinping, the Chinese leader).
"Vladimir Putin needs Xi and of course Xi while he feels he has to align himself at the high level with what Russia is doing because of their new alliance, must be deeply disturbed by what is going on."
He added that the situation in Ukraine is "seriously compounding the economic problems that China face" and carries a "huge reputational risk" for China if they continue to associate themselves with the "murderous activities in Ukraine".
This comes after reports from US intelligence sources told the Financial Times and Washington Post that Russia had been asking China for military equipment since the invasion began.
Russia asked China for military equipment and support in its invasion of Ukraine as well as economic assistance to help ease the impact of the western sanctions.
So far President Xi Jinping has stood by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine and on Monday, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, in Rome with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s elite Politburo and director of the party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission.
This comes as one of Putin’s closest allies has admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not going to plan.
Viktor Zolotov, chief of Russia's national guard and a part of Putin's security council, said progress of the invasion had been slower than expected.
He said: "I would like to say that yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like," Zolotov said in comments posted on the National Guard's website.
"But we are going towards our goal step by step and victory will be for us."
Zolotov has been at Putin's side since before the turn of the century and has spent the last 13 years in charge of his personal security.
His comments, made at a church service led by Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Sunday, have reflected reports from Western intelligence and mark a departure from official Kremlin lines so far.
