Putin’s failed war against Ukraine made Russia loser of year

The key event in 2022 was Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, and the main outcome will be Russia’s geopolitical defeat, Insight News independent media outlet says in its analytical article.

A militaristic and aggressive Russiahas transformed from a G20 member to a pariah state in geopolitics, and many leaders want to see it tried for war crimes at the Hague tribunal.

The whole civilized world has denounced Moscow’s unjustified and unprovoked military aggression, even longtime friends like China have expressed muted disapproval.

Only a small group of other isolated nations, including Syria, North Korea, Belarus and Nicaragua, still support Russia in the UN. 

After Putin started the deadliest war in Europe since World War II, Russia has lost its geopolitical influence. The Kremlin's leader envisioned a swift and successful fight that would bring Ukraine back into Russia’s influence. But instead Russia got its status as a terrorist state that committed war crimes against its neighbor, and became an international pariah.

Russia loses its superpower status

Russia has long seen itself as one of the world’s superpowers. For many years, Putin sought to impose a dictatorship and reestablish its power in the military and the economic fields. These efforts were credited on the global stage. However, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has diminished the efforts by exposing Kremlin propaganda lies and the flaws of the collapsing regime.

No matter what happens in Ukraine, Russia will continue to lose the geopolitical battle as long as the war lasts, the authors of the article say.

The Russian army is not the second in the world

The Battles of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson were lost by the Russian army.

The Ukrainian military seized or destroyed thousands of Russian tanks and armored vehicles while killing more than 100,000 Russian troops. 

The discovery of extensive war crimes against Ukrainian civilians has also seriously damaged Russia’s reputation abroad. 

Mass executions, sexual violence, abductions, and torture throughout occupied Ukraine have turned “the second army of the world” into an army of war criminals, looters, and rapists. Moreover, it is now filled with convicts mobilized by the Wagner company.

Numerous Ukrainian towns and cities have been destroyed due to the Russian military’s indiscriminate bombardments, which have killed thousands of people. 

Russia started systematically destroying Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to deprive Ukrainians of heating, electricity, and water during the winter months. 

Given that all these crimes are accompanied by genocidal narratives of Kremlin’s propagandists, many international observers view Russian war as a genocide of Ukrainians.

Zelenskyy defeats Putin on the international stage

For the first time in ten years, Vladimir Putin skipped his annual propaganda performance named end-of-year press conference. Analysts note that Putin decided to call off the event after his disastrous invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in military setbacks, massive manpower losses, unpopular mobilization, and international condemnation.

While Putin hid from the cameras, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was welcomed in the White House and addressed the Congress.

Russian economic weakness and massive corruption exposed

Western analysts were aware of the corruption level in the Russian Federation, even before the war. Some have referred to Putin's Russia as a “mafia state.”

But the invasion of Ukraine showed that even massive investments in the Russian armed forces failed to produce meaningful outcomes. Because of corruption Russia lacks weapons,  the mobilized Russians lack of equipment.

The Russian economy continues to be primarily dependent on oil exports. It lacks a technological equivalent for imported goods, as evidenced by the invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions. 

Propaganda and nuclear blackmail remain

The invasion of Ukraine has exposed the limitations of Kremlin propaganda despite significant investments in media. Russian propaganda has been unable to expand beyond a niche audience primarily motivated by anti-Americanism, extreme right- or left-wing ideology, and conspiracy theories.

Nuclear blackmail remains Russia’s sole strategy on the world stage. 

Will 2023 define Russia’s future?

With Russia’s inevitable collapse, the population will be forced to confront the decades-long fabrication of nationalistic myths by their corrupt rulers.

Analysts say it is difficult to foresee what sort of Russia will emerge from the ruins of Putin’s state, whether the Russian Federation is facing a coup and a change of government or a disintegration. 

But it already appears improbable that anyone will still consider Russia a superpower. This year will show what scenario is waiting for the falling Russian Federation.