(ANSA) - MILANO, 10 FEB - 'Putin is not feeling enough pain, I think, he does not feel that the price' for the war in Ukraine 'is so high and thinks that everything is going in his favor, he thinks he will be able to complete the task when the US and Europe are exhausted'. This was stated by the former US Secretary of State during Donald Trump's first term and former CIA director Mike Pompeo at a meeting at ISPI in Milan on the occasion of the publication of his autobiography 'Never Back Down', yesterday, responding to those who asked him why peace negotiations in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine cannot continue. "We are also talking about Estonia, Lithuania, and Moldova because Putin is looking there, and also at Georgia. He has great ambitions," he added. "When I spent about ten hours with him, I realized that these places are an integral part of Russia for Putin. He believes this and does not feel threatened by NATO because, for him, the borders are in the wrong place." "The United States, together with Europe, will have to become more serious, even with the imposition of costs" of this war on Russia, "for example on the energy front," he concluded. "Putin is not starving like the children in Ukraine. If the costs for him become high," perhaps things will change. (ANSA).