Putin unhappy with costs of Ukraine conflict – CIA chief

Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly unhappy with the economic sanctions and other costs of the Ukrainian conflict, according to the U.S. CIA chief.
 

"I don't believe he's happy with the situation," U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan told Fox News Sunday. "I think there are signs that the discomfort that is associated with this is becoming more uncomfortable."

"I think President Putin has a view of what sort of Russian nationalism is, that, unfortunately, I think he has put some of the personal interests of himself and some of the senior members of the Russian government ahead of the best interests of the Russian people," Brennan said.

"What Mr. Putin himself needs to do is to understand how he can extract himself from this situation, because it is coming at the cost of the Russian economy and the Russian people being hurt," he added.

According to Brennan, Putin has already demonstrated that he's going to continue to push as far as what his objectives are inside of Ukraine.

Brennan is sure that more pressure should be put on Putin. "What we need to do is to continue to put pressure on Mr. Putin so that the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government can have a future that is going to be peaceful and safe and secure," he said.