Naivete or whatever else - he'll definitely have to provide answers for the history books.
I also suspect vanity. They pumped him up and he indeed thought that if he was promised something - he, as in "I am mighty PUTIN as they keep saying" - then those promises will be kept. Whereas behind the scenes they were laughing at the way they fooled him, like a conman would a simpleton.
So, unless something comes up that exonerates him in that regard - like, say, Russia was really unprepared in some ways to take on the West earlier - then he's fully responsible for letting things slide to such an extent that the war was necessary.
Naivete or whatever else - he'll definitely have to provide answers for the history books.
I also suspect vanity. They pumped him up and he indeed thought that if he was promised something - he, as in "I am mighty PUTIN as they keep saying" - then those promises will be kept. Whereas behind the scenes they were laughing at the way they fooled him, like a conman would a simpleton.
So, unless something comes up that exonerates him in that regard - like, say, Russia was really unprepared in some ways to take on the West earlier - then he's fully responsible for letting things slide to such an extent that the war was necessary.
My SWAG has nothing to do with flattery or ego and everything to do with wanting to believe.