RIGHT SPEAK: Putin Has "paranoid fear" of West Limiting RU Power; Crimea Bridge Attack On Putin's Inauguration Day May Have Major Effect; RU Withdraws About 40 Aircraft from Kushchevsk Airfield Due to Drone Strike; RU ATTEMPTS Luhansk Oblast Breakthrough; 74 C-Clashes; RU Loses: 12 Tanks, 46 Art-Sys, 1260 Sold, All 13 Drones Downed, LIVE UPDATES and LOTS MORE

Putin has "paranoid fear" of West limiting Russian power, US intelligence says:

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is "paranoid" about the West's supposed intention to limit Russia's power in the world, leading him to spend historically record amounts on the militarisation of the country.

Source: Voice of America , citing Avril Haines, Director of the US National Intelligence Agency, at a hearing in the US Congress on 2 May

Quote: "Putin continues to judge that Russia is under threat and almost certainly assumes that a larger, better-equipped military will drive that point home to Western and domestic audiences.

Putin’s strategic goals also remain unchanged. He continues to see NATO enlargement and Western support to Ukraine as reinforcing his long-held belief that the United States and Europe seek to restrict Russia."

Details : The official believes that there is "a certain paranoia associated with this".

At the same time, she believes that NATO's actions are actually aimed at reassuring Russia of the opposite, but Putin's decisions have accelerated events he was trying to avoid, including the expansion of the alliance when Finland and Sweden, which had remained neutral for decades, joined NATO.

Haines explained that the Kremlin leader has increased defence spending to almost 7% of Russia's GDP, which is almost twice the historical average. The Russian defence budget currently accounts for about 25% of all federal spending. --->READ MORE HERE

Crimea bridge attack on Putin's inauguration day may have major effect - Major Hetman

Ukrainian National Guard Major Oleksii Hetman believes that a strike on the Crimean bridge on the day of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's inauguration could have a significant political and military impact

He expressed this opinion on Espreso.

"There's not much left, the inauguration is scheduled for May 7 for the president who is no longer quite legitimate, as the European Union believes, and that would be very good. You know, the Russians like to time their actions to fit certain dates, it's typical for them. This is not entirely correct from a military point of view, but sometimes war is a continuation of politics by other means, and it has a political component as well. If the Kerch bridge is hit on May 7, just before the inauguration, I think the effect will be very, very serious. You can imagine what a holiday it would be for us if, on the day of the inauguration, we received a message on all Russian public media that the Kerch Bridge had already been destroyed," Hetman emphasized.

At the same time, the reserve major suggests that Russian propaganda may release information about the destruction of the Crimean bridge only after May 10-11, as they will not spoil “the celebration of the sacred date of May 9.”

When asked how and with what the Crimean bridge could be destroyed, the veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war answered: "There are only three options: air, sea and sabotage attacks. If we say that there will be one of these three, we will be 100% correct, because there can be no other. Most likely, a combined attack will be used because it will be the most difficult for the Russians to prevent. I am sure that it will be some kind of sabotage, of course, the missiles we have can destroy the bridge's canvas with missiles, and the support should be destroyed with explosives from the water.” --->READ MORE HERE