MOSCOW, Feb 24 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered the FSB security service to step up protection of Russia's energy and transport infrastructure in response to Ukrainian attacks that he said were conducted with the help of Western intelligence.

What Vladimir Putin anticipated would be a swift victory in Ukraine has instead become a protracted, costly conflict, isolating Russia and cementing its role as a global destabilizer.

The Kremlin is waging a campaign of sabotage and subversion against Ukraine’s allies in the West

The Guardian's Shaun Walker draws on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders

For decades, Russian President Vladimir Putin railed against the world that the United States built after the Cold War. In his account, an international order run by a single power would hinder Russia and produce needless conflict, especially when that power was as self-serving and duplicitous as America.

After three decades of perceived Western encroachment, Mr. Putin sought to strike back at the agent of Russia’s confinement, the United States. A blitzkrieg, he surely surmised, would put America in its place and give Russia the power to shape Europe’s destiny.

Just how high of a price is Vladimir Putin willing to pay for a win in Ukraine?

Y OU WOULD have thought that, after four bloody years, a war which neither side can win would have burnt itself out. But not the war in Ukraine. And the blame lies with one man.

Putin's War: 2 Million Casualties and Growing