Putin will not stop at Ukraine, needs to be contained now—Kellogg

The interview was conducted days prior, during Kellogg’s latest visit to Kyiv. Interviewing the retired U.S. general on behalf of The Telegraph, Lord Ashcroft asked if he agreed with former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s assessment that Moscow would move on to attacking NATO members if Ukraine falls.

“Absolutely; you have to look at Putin and Russia as an expansionist power,” Kellogg replied.

“He wants to re-establish the Russian Empire—just look at history. Give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.”

Kellogg then drew parallels between the current situation in Europe and the build-up to WWII.

“It reminds me of World War Two: in Munich in 1938, Hitler said that he only wanted the Sudetenland; then the Rhineland; then Poland; then we were in the Second World War,” he said.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme. That’s exactly what’s happening here with Ukraine. We must stop him [Putin] now.”

The general reiterated that Moscow would change course only if its escalatory encroachments were met with force.

“He [Putin] doesn’t understand the West; he pretends not to speak English, but he does, and we have caught him out several times before. He’s a manipulator,” said Kellogg.

“The only thing to counter that is strength, power and force.”