As the population finally wakes up to the grim truth of Putin’s war in Ukraine, antidepressant sales in Russia have reportedly surged, according to Western sources.
Despite spending a large portion of 2021 in Covid lockdowns, Russians spent 70% more on tablets in the first eight months of this year than they did the previous.
According to the authorities, when the “catastrophic mistake” of Putin’s invasion, including conscription and a failing economy, starts to affect people’s lives, “Russians feel afraid.”
That is highlighted by the fact that significantly more people—400,000—than the 300,000 he recruited—have fled since Putin declared he would start drafting people into the army in September.
Officials claim that despite this, there is no indication that Putin has changed his mind towards Ukraine or that a successor is being sought.
Russia has been fighting in Ukraine for nine months now, but it has not succeeded in achieving any of the military goals that Putin outlined at the outset of the conflict.
According to sources, the Kremlin believed it was getting engaged in a simple fight that would be resolved in a matter of days and had “no Plan B” for what to do if the war went wrong.
The authorities also said that “they still don’t have a Plan B.”
As a result, there is rising unhappiness among both the Russian populace and Putin’s inner circle, who are more open to airing their grievances in public.
According to the authorities, the majority of Russians oppose the war, and the ruling class is becoming more concerned about the impact on their enterprises as well as the possibility of having to draft their kids into combat.
As a result, some people have openly criticized the way the war is being conducted, but not Putin himself, such Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner CEO called “Putin’s chef.”
The officials also said that there is “no plausible likelihood of a change of leadership” in Russia in the near future, although they did mention the next elections in 2024 as a potential flashpoint.
The Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that “he has been undermined by this very terrible mistake.”
We are seeing Ukraine humiliate the Russian military on the battlefield. People can tell that he has made a serious mistake, the official said.
“That has to suggest that people are talking more about succession, what happens next, and they are contemplating a life after,” said the researcher. However, I am not implying that will happen any time soon.
The insiders said that Putin is making more outrageous and irrational allegations as a means of deflecting attention from his own failings.
They cited assertions about Liz Truss’s hacked phones, threats of a “dirty bomb,” and claims that the US and UK attacked the Nord Stream pipelines as examples.
Additionally, Russia is relying more on missile attacks on Ukrainian towns, water supply, and electrical grids to undermine Ukrainian support for the fight.
The authorities said that instead of weakening their determination, it seemed to have reinforced it.
Additionally, they said that while there has been no indication of any peace negotiations yet, “regular” discussions about them are being had with their Russian counterparts.
We’ll have more soon.