Mostly the authors opinion. I see putin as a meglomaniac moron like hitler ordering the 6th Army not to retreat from stalingrad.
The only facts I see were that the russians launched their attack totally unprepared. They were in field bivouac in the heart of winter on the russian steppe. Then they invaded without topping off their vehicles. That’s platoon level management.
If western intel was manipulating putin by saying he was going to invade, putin could have turned the tables on them by not invading and making them look ridiculous.
He was going to...then the west goaded him some more.