The last three months it is organized by both sides … with a clear division of labor. Good cop and bad cop…. This campaign stated that Putin is preparing to activate troops for a full-scale invasion to a big war, for a big war to conquer a substantial portion of Ukraine, with encirclement of major Ukrainian cities. And now we can see that many Western medias are publishing maps showing all these arrows of Russian troops moving into Ukraine territory and conquering that territory that there will be a huge war. Mr. Putin has decided to reinforce these claims. But Putin’s forces are insufficient for what is needed.

Andrei Illarionov

I would be cautious about describing the Russian mobilization as an “empty threat.” It is not “empty.” This is the largest mobilization of Russian forces since the end of the Cold War. It is a real threat made with tanks, troops, aircraft and missiles. In his interview with Frank Gaffney, Illarionov’s arguments regarding the Russian deployments were not well-informed or well-considered.