Williams Burns said there was no evidence to suggest rumours of Putin's ill health were true.
There is no intelligence that Vladimir Putin is unstable or in bad health, the director of the CIA has said.
"He is convinced that his destiny as Russia's leader is to restore Russia as a great power. He believes the key to doing that is to recreate a sphere of influence in Russia's neighbourhood and he cannot do that without controlling Ukraine."Mr Burns travelled to Moscow in November to warn about the serious consequences for invading Ukraine following intelligence the US had collected about Russia's plans.
He added Russia's current concentration of forces in the Donbas suggested the military had learned hard lessons.
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