War critics and hostility towards the west

So even when he took aim at a unique target — the Russian military — state TV anchor Vladimir Soloviev was having a hard time absorbing the loss of Russia’s flagship cruiser Moskva last week.

It was a lengthy angry tantrum on his talk programme, one of Russia’s most popular. Why were you at that specific area of the Black Sea at the time?” he asked.

Pro-Putin and anti-war Soloviev has not budged. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now in its third month and both sides declaring a “new stage” of their fight in the “battle for Donbas,” this uncommon outburst shows just how stressful things have become for everyone involved.

Nobody in the Kremlin appears to be sorry. Vladimir Putin praised the “bulk heroism and valour” of the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade after the same unit was accused by Ukraine of committing war crimes in Bucha.

Despite this, some unexpected critics of the war have also become increasingly vocal.

There is no one to benefit from this crazy battle, according to the outspoken billionaire Oleg Tinkov. “Death is being meted out to both civilians and service members. They’ve come to terms with the fact that they have a shite army after getting over their hangovers. How can the armed forces be effective in a country plagued by corruption, nepotism, and subservience?

Russian President Vladimir Putin needs a clear departure route to preserve his reputation and end this murder, so please, “collective west.”

Proposals for criminal charges against him have been made by Russian MPs.

There is now an existential stake in what the Kremlin describes as a “special operation” after the failures of the first stage of the war on both sides of a deeply divided Russian society.

“We are seeing that the fate of Putin, Russia and society as a whole is being merged into one,” said Greg Yudin, a sociologist. “I hear more often that while people think the war might have been a mistake, they say there is no way back; they say ‘we’ve got to finish the job.’”

It was a “stress test” for the administration that threatened to bring down the “colossus with clay feet” that Putin had created during 20 years in power,” Marina Litvinovich, an opposition activist and politician who has stayed in Russia, said.

But among ordinary Russians, she also sees clear signs of war fatigue brought on by a flood of information from the early days of the invasion. The general public’s level of disinterest is rising.

Litvinovich observed, “I see people growing accustomed to the battle.” “From a nightmare or horror, the conflict has become an everyday occurrence for many.”

Emotionally exhausted, she added, people were turning away from the news as the Moskva cruiser’s failings came to light.

The first economic shocks of the war had worn off for most people, and they were not anticipating the impending economic downturn.

This “false notion that life has normalised” is what she was referring to, she claimed. “People are under the impression that the financial woes are behind us.”

To keep the economy from collapsing, the government has taken unprecedented measures, including the implementation of capital controls. Vladimir Putin’s economic development minister Maxim Reshetnikov said Tuesday that Russia has “withstood” the first round of sanctions.

The business community, on the other hand, is clearly in trouble, as seen by the daily departures of foreign firms from Russia. The Moscow mayor has predicted the loss of 200,000 jobs, proposing that out-of-work professionals can be retrained or temporarily employed, including doing “socially important” work in parks.

Several well-known figures have shown their displeasure by moving on. The Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Monday that Lev Khasis, a former senior executive at the state-owned Sberbank, had left the country for the US.

Officials in government, on the other hand, have mostly maintained their positions. Temporary work stoppages at some large factories have not led to the kind of economic protests that the Kremlin is truly concerned about.

“Putting aside personal positions about the war (some are for, some are against), people are mobilising and working as hard and creatively as possible,” a senior director for a major metals company said. “They understand that they need to give it their all for the company and themselves to survive.”

New polling from the independent Levada Centre has indicated that Russian views on the west in particular grew more negative in March, likely due to sanctions and vocal western support for Ukraine.

Those thoughts have largely been encouraged by Russian state media, where remarks that would have been considered fringe and genocidal, including calls for the erasure of Ukrainian culture, have increasingly been made on print and in primetime.

“There are a lot of people who actually believe in this stuff,” said a senior manager in a state news agency. “And even if not, any Russian person at our level is apoliticised. It’s not for us to analyse the decisions … made by the bosses.”

The Kremlin may want to finish the war as soon as possible, aiming for 9 May Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany.

“But judging by the way the operation is going, he may prolong the hostilities, and 9 May will be just a day to achieve intermediate goals,” said Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Moscow Centre.

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