Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine “irrational” and “illogical”, one of India’s former foreign secretaries has said that he has converted “an imminent diplomatic victory” into “a serious military or political setback”, and added that Putin’s own position now must be in doubt.Krishnan Srinivasan said: “He has managed a military or political defeat, and if that’s putting it too strongly, a serious setback from what looked like an imminent diplomatic victory.” Asked if in these circumstances he believes Putin’s own position could be in doubt, he said: “Yes, I do… it would be an extraordinary feat of resilience for Putin to bounce back… it’s really hard to see how a political leader could survive in these circumstances.”In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Srinivasan said that on February 24, when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, diplomacy was, in fact, working for Russia. Putin had recognised Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities and sent in so-called “peacekeepers” and the world had accepted that, French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz were paying court to the Kremlin, US President Biden had agreed to a summit, and credible voices in Europe were calling for greater attention to Russia’s interests.Srinivasan said: “Diplomacy was close to delivering what Putin wanted.” In these circumstances, the invasion was “almost counterfactual”. He said it “doesn’t stand up to reason”.Elaborating on the pre-February 24 situation, he said, “He [Putin] had all the cards stacked in his favour … since 1990 Russia’s assertions had not got so much respect.” He also said, “The negotiations were working quite well” from Russia’s point of view.Speaking about the present situation, Srinivasan said Russia’s failure to make significant advances in Ukraine, even a week after the invasion, and force Kyiv to surrender, have now raised worrying questions about Russia’s military prowess. He said: “All military headquarters and staff all over the world will be watching very closely. They will notice that the operations have not gone to Putin’s timetable. Second, Russia’s strategy and logistics seem weak and inefficient. Third, Russian equipment is perhaps overestimated.”He agreed that this is a very serious and worrying outcome for a country that considers itself a military superpower.