Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said ​​Russian President Vladimir Putin believes it’s his “destiny” to recreate the Russian Empire.

“Putin believes it’s his destiny to recreate the Russian Empire. And as my old mentor, Zbig Brzezinski, used to say, ‘Without Ukraine, there can be no Russian Empire,'” Gates said.

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"So he is obsessed with retaking Ukraine. He will hang in there," he added. 

Gates, criticizing Putin, said, "He’s doing what Russian armies have always done, and that is sending large numbers of relatively poorly equipped, poorly trained conscripts to the frontlines, in the belief that mass will overcome.”

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