He expressed his opinion on Espreso TV.
“We have to admit that we overestimated the mood within Russia itself. A year ago, we assumed that the sanctions and the significant losses of the Russian army would cause some kind of movement within Russia. We believed that there would be a lot of people in Russia who would not want to be associated with the Putin regime. In fact, this is not the case. Even those who fled Russia because of the partial mobilization announcement look more like a hybrid operation of the Russian special services,” Mahda explained.
The political scientist believes that the Russian army's defeat in Ukraine could provoke Russians to protest against Putin.
“I believe that the moment when Russians will get off their knees and start protesting about Putin is almost unpredictable. There has to be some powerful trigger. For example, a large-scale defeat of the Russian army on the battlefield that the Putin regime will not be able to hide. Then it can cause a chain reaction. The Russians could get rid of Putin and say that it was he who forced them to act so aggressively. However, it should be noted and realized that the aggressive and imperial policy towards their neighbors is the position of the Russians, not just Putin,” he added.
On March 24, it was reported that EU leaders supported the idea of creating a legal mechanism to bring the Russian leadership to justice for war crimes against Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the coalition supporting the creation of a special tribunal for Russia for the crime of aggression now includes 29 countries.
On March 28, the US State Department supported the creation of a so-called 'hybrid tribunal' to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.