Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has become a slave to his own propaganda and his ignorance is leading to Russia's destruction, it has been claimed.
Soviet-born businessman Alexander Temerko - who once held a senior position in Boris Yeltsin's administration - compared Putin's so-called "special operation" in Ukraine to China's invasion of Vietnam over 40 years ago.
Temerko told the Daily Mail the similarities between the two wars are "uncanny" and the invasion of Vietnam in March 1979 holds several lessons the despot would be a fool to ignore.
The Yeltsin aide compared Putin to China's leader at the time Deng Xiaoping - but says unlike Deng, Putin doesn't know when to quit.
"Now, look at the situation in Ukraine. The Russian Army has given up any attempt to take the capital Kyiv from a hugely motivated Ukrainian Army[...]
"Putin, however, is not nearly as clever as Deng Xiaoping. He continues the war — and in so doing, remains hostage to his own propaganda."
Temerko - who said he's well versed in propaganda after growing up in Soviet Russia - said the particular brand of state spin involves yarns of glorious battlefield heroism and beating daunting enemies.
Among the fables he mentioned were the Russian army driving Napoleon from Moscow in 1812 and the defeat of the Mongols in the 13th Century.
This state propaganda is still seen every year in the Red Square - when soldiers march beside huge missiles and military vehicles in a grandiose parade to mark the defeat of Adolf Hitler in World War II.
Putin has become a slave to this ideology and is unable to see what Russia has become - an "aggressor and pariah", he says.
And the "legendary" army that bested Napoleon, the Mongols, and other warrior nations - are in fact monstrous war criminals and brutal thugs.
According to Temerko, Russia crossed a shameful line after the atrocities at Bucha and Mariupol.
Evidence of Putin's failures and the looming destruction of the Russian state is already emerging, Temerko adds.
He believes it can be seen in once neutral nations - Sweden and Finland - asking to become NATO members which would in-turn bring the alliance's borders up against Russia's own.
The sanctions dished out by Western nations will also deplete Putin's war chest and bring it to a quick end - while also preventing Russia from carrying out a similar barbaric conflict in the future.
Overall, Temerko says the invasion has "consolidated" allegiances among Western nations.
