According to The Economist, Russian President Vladimir Putin fears defeat in Ukraine and, as reported, told his associates: “They will hang me.” This remark, made during a conversation with several of his staff, shows his concern about possible physical danger.
The British weekly also recalls Putin’s words spoken on Saturday at a Moscow university meeting on food chains. He said that weaker animals are eaten by stronger ones, a comment that, journalists note, reveals how he views the world.
Russia prepares for escalation
The Economist notes that the Russian army is bogged down on the Ukrainian front and loses tens of thousands of soldiers each month. Mutual drone and rocket attacks exhaust Ukraine and are also felt in Russia, yet Putin shows no sign of retreat. “There is a fear that he may try to get out of the deadlock as he has done in the past, by finding a new way to escalate the conflict,” the publication writes.
Referring to increasingly effective Ukrainian drone strikes, Putin announced even harsher attacks on the most vulnerable sectors of the Ukrainian economy. “You yourselves opened this Pandora’s box. Well then, you will receive a response aimed at the most vulnerable sectors of your economy, which is already barely standing on its feet,” the Russian leader said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, published by the news agency “Vesti”.
“No one knows what is on Putin’s mind. However, the reasons why he is escalating the war, as well as the decision to invade, are internal. His main goal has always been to preserve power and, ultimately, life,” writes The Economist. Among the assumptions about what the head of the CIA John Ratcliffe discussed in Moscow is that he tried to open Russian authorities’ eyes to the poor state of their economy. If so, the American had much to say, writes Wacław Radziwinowicz on Wyborcza.pl.
Kremlin’s fears
The Economist explains that one reason for the Kremlin’s anxiety is the loss of society’s tacit consent to the war. Ukrainian attacks that reach deeper into Russia, combined with internet restrictions imposed by security services, have shattered the appearance of normal life. This shift is reflected in public‑opinion polls.
“Gazeta Wyborcza” witnessed a Ukrainian drone operation in which a drone struck a Russian truck and the driver leapt from the cab at the last moment, writes Piotr Andrusechko.
As the British weekly assesses, none of Russia’s economic or political problems is in itself “fatal” for Putin, because he retains economic resources and a repressive apparatus to continue the war. Yet perception matters greatly.
“Putin may express his goals in the language of geopolitics, but in reality he is guided by the criminal logic of his regime: never show weakness. The Russian system tolerates violence but does not forgive defeat,” writes The Economist. The publication adds that Putin likely believes ending the war without achieving even the minimal goal—the capture of the entire Donbas in eastern Ukraine—would expose him to physical danger.
By this logic, continuing the war in its current form is not a solution; it would only further deplete economic resources and erode political capital. Consequently, escalation may appear to the Russian leader as an attractive option, the weekly concludes.
