Putin finds it difficult to balance between nationalists and rest of population on issue of war in Ukraine - Institute for the study of war

This is reported by the Institute for the study of war (ISW).

Analysts note that on November 21, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the change of the current government in Ukraine is not the goal of the Russian "military special operation" and pointed out that Vladimir Putin "has already spoken about this."

Peskov's words were probably intended to mitigate the consequences of the pro-war speech of the Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, who said that Russia "can only normalize relations with Ukraine following the capitulation of the Ukrainian government."

"The two contrasting statements confused the pro-war community. A Wagner Group-affiliated milblogger sarcastically observed that Russia is aimlessly fighting a war without a clear goal in response to Peskov’s statement," the ISW stressed.

At the same time, experts pointed out that a similar reaction within the Russian Federation was when 215 Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol were exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk and more than 50 Russian soldiers.

Earlier, ISW also reported that Russian extreme nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin accused Putin of incomplete loyalty to the pro-war ideology. Putin has generally tried to balance extreme nationalist arguments to win the support of the nationalist community, and a more moderate narrative to retain the support of the rest of the Russian population. Russia's military failures and the growing sacrifices that Putin is demanding from the Russian people to continue his disastrous invasion make it a deliberate cover-up of the war's goals and an attempt to balance rhetoric in acute relief, potentially fueling discontent among critical groups.