Vladimir Putin continues to suffer from confirmation bias in his belief that Russia's desire to fight will outlive the West's desire to support Ukraine. He believes that his aggressor country is “more committed to the war.”

At the same time, most of Putin's presidential administration and economic cabinet have said they do not support a war against Ukraine. This was reported at the American Institute for the Study of War.

Putin believes that he will “tolerate” the West

Thus, officials close to the Kremlin say that Putin believes that “Russia is more committed to the war than the West to Ukraine, and resilient enough to see economic pain.”

Kremlin sources also said Putin's demands for loyalty over competence among the elites are forcing them to refrain from being honest with him about the course of the war, and noted that Putin is receiving “poor” quality information as a result.

Sources also showed that the majority of Putin's presidential administration and economic cabinet said they were not supporting this war, but were using lies as a survival tactic.

Putin is also likely misinformed about effectiveness Western equipment on the front lines and its ability to thwart its plans for a long war of attrition, the ISW noted.

In addition, the combination of Putin's beliefs about Russia's resilience and expectations of the collapse of the will of the West with a narrowing circle of advisers and the apparent reluctance of insiders to contradict him is likely to create a strong confirmation bias in the dictator's observations of Western statements and propaganda.

“If “this hypothesis is correct, Putin is likely to prefer any sign of waning Western support. Western leaders would do well to consider the possibility that this sort of confirmation bias is shaping the perception of Putin in their own public and private statements and actions,” the analysts added.

Putin again dreams of a “war with NATO”

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, during his speech to the federal assembly on February 21, once again stated that his state -the aggressor is allegedly at war with NATO.

Putin complained that the military potential and capabilities of almost all the main countries of the Alliance are allegedly being actively used against Russia .