WSJ: Putin's Entourage In The Kremlin Wants Him Gone
- 26.10.2025, 23:25
Certain historical parallels are suggested.
Experts warn: Moscow may repeat the fate of Germany in 1918. Continuing the war for Putin is becoming not so much a matter of strategy as a matter of survival. As The Wall Street Journal writes, tensions are rising in the Kremlin: part of Putin's entourage would like him to leave, now any show of weakness could be fatal for him.
The former head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, said ending the war without achieving its goals is dangerous for Putin personally.
"It is very difficult for someone who started a war with a huge number of casualties to give up and agree to a truce. He will have to think about what the mothers of the dead soldiers will say," the diplomat said.
The president of the Center for European Policy Analysis Alina Polyakova notes that Putin is not interested in ending the war because any truce without victory will make him look weak.
"There are many people in Putin's entourage and the Kremlin who want him gone. And once he shows weakness, it's over for him and his board," the WSJ quoted her as saying.
Economy at the Limit
Officially, Russian officials claim they are capable of "fighting forever." But the WSJ says the reality is different: the economy is suffering increasingly heavy losses and public fatigue is growing.
Many Russians do not share Putin's obsession with "destroying Ukraine" at any cost, the article says. A symbol of the hidden protest has been the detention of street musicians playing songs banned by the regime, including the composition "Swan Lake" by rapper Noize MC - about the dictator's death.
Russia's money is running out
According to experts, Russia's financial stability is only holding on to old schemes.
"It's not that they will run out of money," explains economist Alexandra Prokopenko of the Carnegie Eurasia Center. - But they will no longer be able to finance the war through traditional means. The illusion of stability will collapse."
The possible scenarios include the issue of money, rising inflation, cuts in social spending and a shift from voluntary recruitment to the front to forced mobilization. This, analysts say, would lead to even more internal tensions.
Historical Parallels
University of Chicago professor Konstantin Sonin compared modern Russia to Germany in 1918, which lost the war despite having no enemies on its territory. "That collapse is not happening now. But sooner or later such things always happen," he said.