Continuing war with Ukraine is Putin's key to retaining power - Portnikov

He said this on Espreso TV. 

“It seems to me that Putin's idea of how he can maintain power is not the end of the war or victory in it, but rather its continuation. This is the new normal - life in war. The Russian Federation is at war with the West and Ukraine, while nothing is happening in Russia itself, i.e., it is just at war. This makes it possible to create a totalitarian vertical: anyone who disagrees is an enemy of the people, arrest everyone, change the nature of the economy and make it military-industrial, think about a camp economy,” the journalist said.

Vitaly Portnikov summarized that the continuation of the war with Ukraine provides an opportunity to rebuild the Russian state in the way the Chekists like it.

• On March 28, The Guardian reported that Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in an informal conversation with the Russian elite, said that the war in Ukraine is for a long time.

• On March 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on spring conscription, under which 147,000 Russians are to join the army from April 1 to July 15.