The Kremlin realized that the war had become a trap for the president of the Russian Federation.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin at a press conference on December 22, he abruptly stated this does not want to “turn the flywheel of a military conflict”. At the same time, the head of the Kremlin announced his readiness to sit down at the negotiating table and traditionally accused Ukraine of unwillingness to negotiate.
Even the Russian dictator noticed this intensification of hostilities in Ukraine “leads to unjustified losses”.
Experts say Putin’s change of rhetoric has several reasons and such statements are aimed at both internal and external audiences. TSN.ua understood what influenced the mood in the Kremlin.
Russia shows strategic weakness
military expert Peter Chernik in an exclusive comment TSN.ua singled out two main points in the statement of the President of the Russian Federation.
“The first moment The signal that Putin is giving is that they are moving from an offensive strategy to a defensive one.. They have not achieved and will not achieve the strategic goal of liquidating Ukrainian statehood. They have realized that they have fallen into a trap and do not know how to get out of this trap. This signal that they allegedly do not want to continue anything is a signal not for us, but for the collective West – they say, it is necessary to find some common ground in order to bring Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table and find a way out of this situation. This is unacceptable for us,” Chernik stressed.
According to him, “the very fact of the rhetoric with which Putin moved in such a conversation is a sign of their strategic weakness.”
“The second moment – we understand that they are trapped. This is a constant. We ask the question: how can they get out? To be honest, I myself cannot understand what they need to do to reach this point in the negotiations. They are well aware that if there it will be a classic defeat in Ukraine, and it will happen, it’s just a matter of time and circumstances, most likely Putin will lose his life and Russia will be on the path of disintegration,” the military expert explained.
As Chernik noted, the Russians “leave only one logical argument – to drag out this war as long as possible, in the expectation that we, the Ukrainians, will be exhausted, sooner or later the card will fall to their side and there will be some kind of parting negotiations”.
Justification for “deep people”
American Institute for the Study of War (ISW)analyzing Putin’s statements, he came to the conclusion that they are part of a consolidated effort by the Kremlin to justify the war Putin is waging before a domestic Russian audience, which more and more sacrifices have to be made to achieve unrealistic goals.
According to ISW, the Russian military has not achieved any significant victories in Ukraine since the fall of Lysychansk on 3 July. Putin and Russian Defense Ministry officials have repeatedly issued vague apologies for military failures in recent days, possibly also in an attempt to downplay the effects of a protracted war.analysts say.
Does Putin hope for new Minsk agreements?
Political scientist Vladimir Feshenko believes that The Kremlin’s suggestions on preparing for a protracted war are aimed at the West. For example, Putin hopes that the West will “get tired of the war and start negotiating.”
The political scientist suggests it the dictator is trying to repeat the history of the Minsk agreements, but he immediately “puts pressure” on Ukraine and forces it to fulfill obligations that are unprofitable for us.
“Unfortunately, these agreements were signed under military pressure from Russia, when there was a risk of a continuation of the Russian offensive. And now our troops are liberating the Ukrainian territories, and not vice versa. But Putin wants to repeat this case , this combination with agreements, but in a way that does not repeat and own mistakes. But we will not allow it,” Fesenko summed up.
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