October 26, 2025
The Kremlin is gripped by panic as it runs out of options to keep its power game alive while U.S. President Donald Trump tightens the screws, The Telegraph reported on Oct. 26, noting that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin now fears another coup as Russia’s position begins to visibly erode.
Melissa Lawford, the article’s author, highlights that in October, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky and members of the Russian Anti-War Committee, accusing them of plotting a violent seizure of power and creating a terrorist organization.
“Putin appears to once again see Khodorkovsky as a threat,” she writes.
Khodorkovsky has dismissed the charges as false. Experts, meanwhile, interpret the move as a clear sign of Putin’s growing vulnerability.
In a comment to The Telegraph, John Herbst — senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine — said the move indicates that “the Kremlin is slipping into paranoia.” He added that Putin is hunting for enemies in an effort to shield his regime.
Putin, the article notes, has plenty of reasons to worry.
Russia’s economy is starting to buckle. Businesses are paralyzed by soaring interest rates, and the Ministry of Economic Development has warned the country is “on the verge of recession.” Warnings are mounting about an avalanche of non-performing loans that could spark a financial crisis. Meanwhile, small acts of defiance are emerging — hundreds of people recently gathered in Saint Petersburg to sing a banned protest song calling for Putin’s overthrow.
At the same time, Ukraine has ramped up drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, and Trump has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies. In response to Washington’s decision, India and China — Moscow’s main oil buyers — have cut back on purchases. The result could be a sharp loss of critical revenue for both Putin’s war machine and Russia itself.
Commenting on the developments, British economist Timothy Ash — a research fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House — said Russia has taken a real hit for the first time in three and a half years. He added that “there’s some panic” in Moscow.
A banking crisis is looming, Lawford writes. Russia’s economy had shown resilience since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, defying early forecasts of collapse after the first wave of Western sanctions. One key reason for this resilience, the article says, is that the Kremlin forced banks to issue loans to defense businesses without standard credit checks.
The numbers are staggering. According to Craig Kennedy, a Russia analyst and former banker, roughly 23% of all outstanding corporate loans in Russian banks — at least $190 billion — are currently held by weapons manufacturers. That’s equivalent to about 37% of Russia’s annual federal budget.
All sectors of the economy are also struggling under the weight of high interest rates. In October, Russia’s Central Bank cut its key rate by 0.5 percentage points to 16.5%.
Still, The Telegraph concludes, the money is running out.
The war is also hitting the Russian population, as thick plumes of smoke rise above refineries nationwide after waves of Ukrainian drone attacks. The result has been a sharp spike in gasoline prices and growing shortages at the pump.
Lawford recalls that Putin already faced a coup attempt in June 2023, when Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a failed mutiny. He later died in a plane crash.
But Khodorkovsky is not marching on Moscow, the author writes, returning to the FSB’s decision to open a case against the former Yukos chief. After his release from a Siberian prison, he moved to Europe and founded the Anti-War Committee. In a comment to The Telegraph, Khodorkovsky said the charges against him show that the Kremlin is “worried about the question of succession.” He argued that in the event of Putin’s death, there is no clear successor — and that “the international legitimacy of the opposition could become a decisive factor in the event of a sudden power transition.”
He also said Western sanctions have caused serious problems for Russia, and that Putin’s war machine is now heavily dependent on cooperation with China.
To make matters worse, Russia is also facing a rapidly growing budget deficit, the article notes.
“Trump has picked a particularly painful moment to start tightening the screws on Putin,” Lawford concludes.
“Trump has picked a particularly painful moment to start tightening the screws on Putin,”
I disagree. The United States could’ve and should’ve cut the mafia jugular money vein a long time ago and anytime since then. The mafia state could be broke already. But, neither the cowardly Biden nor the wannabe orange dictator have shown anything like strength, courage, or foresight. BTW, this also goes for the biggest majority of European leaders.
The single biggest factor making life increasingly difficult for the terrorists are Ukraine’s constant attacks on oil refineries and oil depots. They must be kept up until the shithole finally dies, dries up, and blows away.
The kremlin are under pressure, so they resort to plan B, pretend they have another wonder weapon waiting to be unleashed.
As I have said before, putler has no room to manoeuvre. He can’t carry the war on, and he can’t stop it. Sending his pet monkey to whine on US TV is a final throw of the dice, and that’s even before TACO implemented any weak sanctions.
The mafia runt is displaying subdued temper tantrums as he squirms for answers to his mounting problems. He knows this war could last longer than his money and his people’s support.
From reports coming in, it appears that mafia land have debts of $466 billion. That’s 22% of GDP, so something is going to burst the dam soon.