Putin faces toughest challenge as Russian leader
Signs of frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are mounting, posing the most serious challenge yet in retaining his firm grip on the Kremlin.
The stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces has forced Russian troops to flee occupied areas, leading to questions about Russia’s strategy on state television airwaves normally under Putin’s thumb.
Local lawmakers in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg have called for his removal from office, while Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, called Russia’s retreat this week “astounding.”
Russian experts say it all leaves Putin at the center of a political quagmire of his own making, which threatens his popularity and, in the longer term, quite possibly his political survival.
The odds of Putin losing power are higher than ever, though still “not a very large number,” said Timothy Frye, a Columbia University political science professor who wrote “Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia.”
“Putin risked the most important achievement of his 20 years in power by going to war in Ukraine. And that was a sense of a return to stability,” Frye said. “And the expectation was the war would be over in a week — this would be seen as an easy victory and that stability would not be put in jeopardy. And now, it clearly has.”
Putin, who has refused to label the conflict in Ukraine as a war even after tens of thousands have died, has few attractive choices going forward. That raises the possibility that his “special military operation” in Ukraine will drag on.
“Putin, for all his macho persona, he’s not good at making tough decisions,” said Mark Galeotti, a London-based lecturer on Russian security and author of the forthcoming book “Putin’s War.” “When he doesn’t see a good answer, he tends to get paralyzed. And at the moment he doesn’t really have any good options.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehil...toughest-challenge-yet-as-russian-leader/amp/
Signs of frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are mounting, posing the most serious challenge yet in retaining his firm grip on the Kremlin.
The stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces has forced Russian troops to flee occupied areas, leading to questions about Russia’s strategy on state television airwaves normally under Putin’s thumb.
Local lawmakers in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg have called for his removal from office, while Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, called Russia’s retreat this week “astounding.”
Russian experts say it all leaves Putin at the center of a political quagmire of his own making, which threatens his popularity and, in the longer term, quite possibly his political survival.
The odds of Putin losing power are higher than ever, though still “not a very large number,” said Timothy Frye, a Columbia University political science professor who wrote “Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia.”
“Putin risked the most important achievement of his 20 years in power by going to war in Ukraine. And that was a sense of a return to stability,” Frye said. “And the expectation was the war would be over in a week — this would be seen as an easy victory and that stability would not be put in jeopardy. And now, it clearly has.”
Putin, who has refused to label the conflict in Ukraine as a war even after tens of thousands have died, has few attractive choices going forward. That raises the possibility that his “special military operation” in Ukraine will drag on.
“Putin, for all his macho persona, he’s not good at making tough decisions,” said Mark Galeotti, a London-based lecturer on Russian security and author of the forthcoming book “Putin’s War.” “When he doesn’t see a good answer, he tends to get paralyzed. And at the moment he doesn’t really have any good options.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehil...toughest-challenge-yet-as-russian-leader/amp/
