Ex-Prime Minister of Russia: Putin is not the same as before

Although Mikhail Kasyanov was Vladimir Putin’s first prime minister, he never imagined that his former president would launch a full-scale war against Ukraine. In a video interview with AFP, Kasyanov, who was Russia’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, expected the war to last up to two years, but said he was convinced Russia could return to a democratic path. The 64-year-old former Russian prime minister, who worked for close ties to the West during his tenure, added that, like many Russians, he did not believe war would break out. But Kasyanov realized that Putin was taking his threats seriously just three days before the February 24 invasion, when the Russian president summoned the top leadership of the Security Council to a live televised meeting. “When I saw the meeting of the Russian Security Council, I knew there would be a war,” he said. He added that he felt that Putin was thinking wrong: “I know these people, and as soon as I looked at them, I saw that Putin is no longer the same. Not in a medical sense, but in a political one.”