Putin believes the West will hand over Ukraine to him on silver platter

The propaganda arm of the Putin regime, RIA Novosti, published an article titled "Lavrov: New 'Crusade' Against Russia Doomed to Fail." It says, in part: "Most Western countries have formed a coalition to support Ukraine's victory, aiming to deliver a strategic blow to Russia on the battlefield," the minister said at the opening of the 16th Assembly of the Russian World. Russia is ready to fight the West on the battlefield.

"But this has happened more than once in history. Most European countries were also in Napoleon's army, and most European countries were in Hitler's army. Both wanted to deliver a strategic blow to Russia on the battlefield. We are sure the same fate will befall the current crusade against our country and our people," the minister emphasized.

"According to the twisted logic of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, it turns out that it was Ukraine and the "evil" West who together sneakily attacked the "peace-loving" Russian Federation. And now, Russia is forced to resist their crusade and defend the interests of the mythical "Russian world" in a "holy war.""

This political nonsense is constantly repeated by high-ranking members of Putin's criminal regime, not only to justify their bloody aggression in Ukraine but also to show their determination to keep pushing a military adventure that was doomed to fail from the start.

The eternal dictator Putin really wants the sanctions lifted from Russia, but he doesn’t want to meet any of the demands that caused those sanctions. He firmly believes that he can outlast the West, and that if he dies in office, his successors will survive too.

By offering Ukraine’s surrender for "peace," Putin hopes to continue his aggression. After all, until the Moscow elites feel the negative effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war themselves, they will continue to support this pitiful ruler who, lacking resources, recklessly tried to conquer the world.

Putin has pushed the majority of Russians into an alternative reality, where the pain of their unenlightened lives and the fear of a repressive regime block their ability to think critically. After all, the average Russian feels it’s their duty to support whatever the state says is moral and correct. This explains their lack of resistance to ever-new repressive and restrictive laws.

"Russians don’t understand democracy. Because they’ve never had it. In contrast, in the West, citizens constantly question their leaders’ decisions — it's their duty — and if they're dissatisfied, they change their leadership democratically after four years."

In Russia, it’s the opposite. The information that the population receives is tightly controlled by the authorities. As each month passes, it’s becoming harder for Russians to access alternative external sources. And when you grow up in a country where you’re constantly told the sky is green, and anything else is not only false but criminal, it’s hard to expect these "citizens" to want to change or replace anything.

Russians don’t know the truth about what Putin is doing in their name. They still don’t know the real economic cost of the Russian-Ukrainian war. They don’t see the rampant corruption in the Ministry of Defense. They know little or nothing about the real number of people killed on the frontlines. They’re told about a mythical 30,000 deaths when the real losses are about to exceed 700,000. They don’t know the truth about how their men on the frontlines are poorly fed, underpaid, badly equipped, and treated like meat in a meat grinder.

Relentless propaganda keeps Russians convinced they’re already winning, making them believe that a bright future awaits them afterward. Despite the fact that the Putin regime has no ideology, it skillfully replaces it with propaganda that explains anything to the population, and they blindly believe whatever the emotional reports on TV tell them.

"Putin’s disinformation machine works powerfully, both at home and abroad. Deceived Russians have been led to believe that if Putin doesn’t invade Ukraine, it will join the EU, then NATO, and that Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Belarus will follow. And NATO, a defense organization, will somehow dominate Eurasia."

This only happens in the totalitarian fascist state that Putin has built. The propaganda works so well that Russians will believe any nonsense fed to them. And one day, they’ll wake up and realize that Putin has not only failed to achieve any of his strategic goals, but that no one in the world supports him and no one wants anything to do with them.

Putin’s genocide of the Ukrainian people is a wake-up call for all democratic countries that haven’t yet joined NATO to do so as soon as possible, just like Sweden and Finland did recently. These countries were convinced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that neutrality can have dangerous consequences. Now that he’s destroyed Russia’s once-deceptive image, no European country will want to tie itself to Putin’s sinking ship.

Even as the dictator’s situation spirals out of control, he still believes the West will just hand Ukraine over to him. Totalitarian rulers like him often fall into what can be called the “dictatorship trap.” The strategies they use to stay in power eventually lead to their downfall. Instead of being long-term planners, many make catastrophic short-term mistakes — mistakes that could be avoided in democratic systems.

They only listen to their sycophants and get bad advice. They misunderstand their own people. They don’t recognize the threats until it’s too late. And unlike elected leaders who leave office when their term ends, most dictators, including Putin, can’t voluntarily give it up. After all, they’d have to answer for all their crimes, and there are things Putin doesn’t want to answer for.

"Putin is also dangerous because, while we’re living in the 21st century, he’s stuck in the middle of the 20th. A dictator doesn’t know how to use the Internet, and he relies entirely on his subordinates to inform him. And those subordinates have plenty of reasons to sugarcoat the truth and distort information, mostly because they fear Putin’s wrath if they say something he doesn’t want to hear."

Since Putin watches Russian state television and consumes his own propaganda, the narratives created by him and his inner circle return to him, which he sees as confirmation that the path he's chosen is right. This makes it difficult for him to understand what’s really happening in and around Russia. Driven by unrealistic facts, he treats them as the foundation for decisions on various issues.

Living in this "kingdom of crooked mirrors," the tyrant continues to make decisions that could tragically affect the fate of the entire world. This poses a grave danger to all of Western civilization. Moreover, as Putin gets older, his ego grows, and he becomes even more of a sociopath than he was before the start of Russia's war with Ukraine.

The Axis of Evil — Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran — believes that a weak and sluggish West can't resist their efforts to dominate the world. They are expanding their influence by testing their neighbors and searching for vulnerabilities to exploit. Iran is ramping up pressure on Iraq and trying to control neighboring Arab states while aiming to destroy Israel. China is provoking instability on the Indian border, threatening Taiwan with invasion, and intimidating Southeast Asian countries. Russia is focused on eradicating the independence of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

However, not everyone in the American political establishment has fully grasped how much is at stake in Ukraine. The United States may be the most benevolent world leader the world has ever known. It has become the only hegemon to fairly uphold the world order (as defined by those who created it before) in an equitable way.

"Now, Putin’s actions, emboldened by impunity, are threatening this order. If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, not only will the world order led by America be destroyed, but the United States will also lose the security and prosperity it has enjoyed for the last three generations."

If America and Europe continue supporting Ukraine, Russia will lose. Sanctions are already working, though not perfectly. Russian reports show that its railway system is near collapse due to a shortage of locomotive bearings, and the civilian aircraft fleet is struggling due to a lack of spare parts. The Russian Federation can currently produce nothing but weapons. As its ammunition reserves dwindle, Putin is forced to turn to North Korea and Iran for help.

But his ultimate goal remains the destruction of the Ukrainian state. So, the idea that some Western politicians might agree to a “peace deal” on the Kremlin’s terms, which would end the war, is a naive fantasy. In 2014, Russia signed the Minsk agreements, meant to bring peace to the region, but nothing came of them. Putin never intended to stick to any agreements; he saw them as an opportunity to rebuild his army and deceive the West into letting him restart the war.

For now, the war, which has reached a deadlock, is slowly shifting in Ukraine's favor, as it drains Russian resources and wears down their manpower. Putin and his criminal regime will only survive if the United States and Europe stop supporting Ukraine. But those in the West who still believe that Russia isn't a threat to all of civilization are running out of time.

After all, if you want to avoid your children fighting in World War III — and possibly losing it — now is the time to stand up to the expansionist evil that is Putin's Russia.

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About the author. Viktor Kaspruk, journalist.

The editorial staff does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.