Russia ukraine War Russian

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is fond of a phrase, "the wonderful Russia of the future," his shorthand for a country without President Vladimir ...

Back in September, Putin ordered a [“partial mobilization”](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/europe/ukraine-russian-referendums-intl-hnk/index.html/) after a swift and unexpected Ukrainian counteroffensive that chased Russian forces out of the northeastern Kharkiv region and set the stage for Ukraine’s recapture of the southern city of Kherson. “There have been a lot of changes (in Russia), but I can’t really make a difference,” said Ira, a 47-year-old who works for a business publication. “It got a lot worse in the spring,” she said. Part of the fascination with Prigozhin has to do with the fact that Putin, until a year ago, enjoyed a secure monopoly on power. Protests erupted in [ethnic minority regions ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/europe/russia-dagestan-protests-mobilization-intl-hnk/index.html)such as Dagestan where police faced off against [anti-mobilization demonstrators ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/europe/russia-protests-partial-mobilization-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html)in multiple cities. “While the answer is negative, there is one important ‘but.’ It is difficult to remain balanced and sane after going through bloody meat grinders and losing a significant part of one’s personnel. That era, in hindsight, was a prelude to the current war: Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed armed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region, while Putin’s technocrats worked on sanction-proofing the [Russian economy](https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/15/europe/putin-russia-economic-fortress-intl/index.html). “He’s the first folk hero (in) many years,” Zygar said. And Putin has made it clear that he seeks to reassert Russia as an empire in which Ukraine has no place as an [ independent state](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/europe/russia-putin-empire-restoration-endgame-intl-cmd/index.html). [major new assault](https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-2-2-23/h_91dec711ef18fd5fef734aee48458126), perhaps to coincide with the anniversary of the 2022 invasion. And in Moscow, signs of elite competition are beginning to emerge, even as some Russians are seeing through the cracks in the wall of state propaganda. [Putin’s government](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/01/russia-court-order-to-liquidate-moscow-helsinki-group-human-rights-organization-unlawful/) has crushed the remnants of Russia’s civil society and presided over his country’s first military mobilization since World War II.