Roman Badanin Says Prolonging Ukraine War Helps Putin Retain Power

What changed

Roman Badanin has published Le Tsar en personne (The Tsar in Person), a book examining Vladimir Putin’s thinking after more than 20 years investigating the Russian leader. Badanin’s central argument is blunt: prolonging the war in Ukraine helps Putin preserve his grip on power inside Russia. The book is currently available in Russian and French.

Why it matters

This interpretation shifts attention from the war’s battlefield timetable to Putin’s political survival. If the war helps sustain his authority, then ending it may carry a cost for him at home, even when continuing it carries costs elsewhere.

Badanin describes Putin’s attitude as retaliatory: if someone hits him, he hits back harder. That picture suggests a leader who treats confrontation as proof of strength and compromise as a potential loss of control.

It is an informed interpretation, not a demonstrated forecast of future policy. Its value lies in the question it raises: whether decisions about Ukraine are being shaped not only by military aims, but also by the Kremlin’s need to keep Putin’s power intact.