Why is Vladimir Putin seemingly exercising restraint? There is no lack of bombast in the Russian president’s speeches and TV pronouncements, but he could, if he so wished, have escalated the war in Ukraine rapidly and intensively.
Yet the Kremlin appears to have avoided destroying key Ukrainian infrastructure and areas of substantial economic or military value.
In fact, it actually seems that NATO is demonstrating its power – with the coming days seeing the start of extensive military exercises stretching from the Arctic to the Mediterranean – while Putin is slowing down the war, rather than accelerating it.
