Russian Empire Ambitions: ‘Next Will Be Warsaw Pact Countries’ – Spy Chief Says

Russia does not see itself as a federation; it sees itself as an empire, said the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, speaking at the YES conference event held in Kyiv by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation on Feb. 24 – the third anniversary of the Russian full-scale invasion – as reported by a Kyiv Post journalist.

“The empire that the current leadership of the Russian Federation is leaning toward is modeled after the Soviet Union – but with the countries of the Warsaw Pact,” Budanov said, adding, “Imagine the worst-case scenario, and yet it happened that three countries united into one, even though that is almost impossible.”

According to him, if Russia manages to create an empire, its next targets will be Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

“Next will be Poland – I’m telling you this directly. And there’s no need to fear it; you just need to be aware,” he said.

“After that, it will be the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria – they will all come under control. For the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, that’s the bare minimum if an empire is being formed, and then, who knows what might follow, excuse me,” Budanov added.

According to Budanov, Russia currently needs a pause to regain strength and address its mistakes.

“The Russian Federation understands that it is unrealistic to quickly achieve its strategic goal. I won’t say that Russia is failing at everything or that everything is going badly for them. That’s not true. They are moving forward. But this progress is not significant enough – it is insufficient to quickly achieve their strategic goal. Therefore, they need a pause,” Budanov said.

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“And then they will have a window of opportunity to achieve their strategic goal. The fact that they declare their aim to be the full occupation of Donbas, the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and to maintain control over the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea is not the whole picture. They need much more. It is simply impossible to achieve this through war alone, and that is a fact. Therefore, a pause is necessary.”