Vladimir Putin would sacrifice 20 million Russian soldiers to win a war with Ukraine and ensure his political survival, Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat in exile, has told Sky News.

Boris Bondarev, who left Russia’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva because of the war, told Sky News that “Putin was unlucky”.

“I believe that the 20 years he was in power were very happy for him. He’s not smart, he’s just lucky. Now I think he was unlucky,” he said.

Bondarev, who worked in the field of nuclear disarmament, described Putin’s level of desperation, saying he was prepared to see more than a tenth of the population killed in the conflict.

“After he loses the war, he will have to explain to his elites and his population why this is so, and he may have some problems explaining. And after that, there may be an opposition that will try to remove him, or he will try to purge his subordinates to find people to blame for all these problems. This will be a period of internal upheaval,” says Bondarev.

“You should not doubt, he could sacrifice 10 or 20 million Russians just to win this war, just to knock out all the Ukrainians, because it’s a matter of principle. For him, this is a matter of political survival. It is necessary to understand that if he loses the war, it will be the end for him,” explains the former diplomat.

He admitted that he did not think that President Putin would seriously start a war before it happened.

On the nuclear threat: Do not take these threats lightly

While intelligence officials warn that the Kremlin may be planning a nuclear attack in the Black Sea, Bondarev says it is not a threat that should be ignored lightly.

“I think there may be some plans to somehow deploy nuclear weapons during this war in Ukraine. The West, I believe, should be consistent in removing Putin, because as long as he and his regime are in power in Russia, the threat of nuclear war will not disappear,” says Bondarev.

He added that the Russian leader was using the nuclear button to force other countries to do what he wanted, which he said represented a “new level in the history of nuclear weapons” and a “very dangerous development,” Sky News reported.

Who is Boris Bondarev, the diplomat who said: “I have never been so ashamed of my country”

41-year-old Boris Bondarev is a former Russian diplomat who has worked in the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN since 2002, and in Geneva since 2019.

On May 23, 2022, Boris Bondarev announced his resignation in protest against the war in Ukraine.

“During the 20 years of my diplomatic career, I have witnessed various turns in our foreign policy, but I have never been so ashamed of my country as on February 24, 22,” when Russia invaded Ukraine, Boris Bondarev wrote.