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he regime of Vladimir Putin relies on domestic repression and external aggression for survival — it needs war to continue existing.
That’s according to David Cattler, former Director of the U.S. Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), who spoke at the Riga Security Conference, Ukrinform reports.
“Internal authoritarian consolidation in Russia and its external wars of expansion are two sides of the same coin. The regime sustains itself through repression at home and aggression abroad. Both processes are driven by the same logic of domination,” said Cattler, who served as DCSA Director until September 30 of this year.
According to him, modern Russia is reproducing old imperial policies, merely changing their ideological packaging — from the “divine empire” to the “Russian world.”
“Putin has turned Russia into a war machine — a state that can exist only in a state of conflict. He has shifted the economy to a wartime footing and raised a generation that believes violence abroad is patriotism at home. Inside the country, censorship, surveillance, and propaganda have become the glue that holds the system together,” Cattler emphasized.
The former Pentagon counterintelligence chief noted that Putin’s propaganda, which first dehumanized Ukrainians, is now targeting other Europeans, while war itself has become the regime’s political metabolism — something it cannot survive without.
“This is not just foreign policy. It has become the political metabolism of a regime that needs war to endure. That’s why the outcome in Ukraine matters far beyond its borders. If Russia wins, every border in Europe becomes negotiable, and every ‘frozen conflict’ becomes a template for new aggression. When Ukraine wins, it will send a clear signal: aggression has failed, borders remain intact, and the colonial model collapses,” he stated.
Cattler underscored that Europe and the United States must move from a state of alarm to sustained action — including boosting defense production, closing sanctions loopholes, and strengthening protection against hybrid threats.
The Riga Conference, the largest forum on security and foreign policy in the North Baltic region, opened in Latvia on October 9.
