Much has been said and written in the last week, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine coming up in a month, that Vladimir Putin has failed. Several media outlets insist that the Kremlin did not expect this level of resistance from the troops and civilians turned into militia resistance under the orders of Volodymyr Zelensky. A wrong test.
What was sought to infer at the beginning of the invasion, has already been ruled out. And it is not that the strategy has changed. Putin’s goal is now clear: It does not seek to take kyiv, the Ukrainian capital which it is currently keeping under missile fire. The strategy of the Russian boss looks to the long term.
Seeks to completely demolish Ukraine, disintegrate its entire military apparatus first, and then lengthen a wear that affects the entire productive matrix. Completely destroy the rival state that dared to challenge it. A country that is already bleeding with mass migrations.
it does no concern for Western sanctions. He is not worried that the Russians will suffer the consequences of the war in their pockets and that social discontent against his government may grow. In fact his popularity grows from the war: 70% of Russians support it.
Of course, Putin dominates the media Russians, and scripts the anti-Nazi speech in the invasion of Ukraine, and a good part of the country also works for the State (a feudalism similar to the one that dominates many Argentine provinces), so finally the alignment is mandatory: it was reflected in the march in his support, which took place last week in Moscow.
“If Vladimir Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine knowing the type of sanctions that were coming his way, it is because he had a guarantee network called China. If the latter had not assured him before the invasion that he was going to buy all the gas that the EU stopped buying, there would have been no invasion,” says Ignacio Hutin, author of the books “Ukraine-Donbass: a renewed cold war” and “Ukraine, Chronicle from the Front”.
Perhaps China does not support it politically or militarily, something that America celebrates. But if Xi Jinping can manage to support Russia economically, with that Putin is enough. “The great obsession is to return Russia to the big table of international politics. She is a military power but not an economic one,” adds Hutin.
Sure, that dependency puts it under Beijing’s orbit, and Russia is left with no alternatives if China doesn’t buy its gas. But Putin is confident that the fickle Europe will surrender to trade with Russia as soon as a peace is agreed that satisfies him, with a devastated Ukraine.
