Jan 25, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing the domestic zero hour, which has likely been exacerbated by Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine, a political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics told Newsweek.
Putin, who is seeking another term in the March election, faces backlash over power outages that have plagued Russia in recent months, often resulting in a life-threatening lack of heating.
“Putin is facing another grave crisis due to the ongoing heating disaster” that was pushing Russia toward “the breaking point,” political adviser Jason Jay Smart told Newsweek.
“There have been estimates that perhaps thousands of Russian civilians have frozen to death,” Smart said. “Incredibly, the genesis of this crisis, as a UK [Ministry of Defense (MoD)] report said today, is that the Kremlin has been pushing regional governors in Russia to make infrastructure cuts, since early 2022, to help finance the war in Ukraine.”
“This is another sign that Russia is becoming increasingly unstable and nearing the breaking point,” he added.
Outages had left approximately 25 percent of Moscow residents without heat in brutal winter weather as of earlier this month, while a 60-year-old Russian Navy officer reportedly froze to death in his home near St. Petersburg after losing power on January 3.
A British MoD intelligence update posted on Thursday to X, formerly Twitter, suggested that the blackouts were due to the Ukraine war using up funds that might have otherwise gone to maintain an aging utilities infrastructure.
“In recent months, there have been heating breakdowns in 16 locations across Russia,” the update reads. “These breakdowns amidst sub-freezing temperatures are an expansion of an existing problem that has plagued Russian cities and towns for decades, but has likely become more acute due to Russian wartime policies”
“Russia has routinely prioritised military spending over reinvestment in general public infrastructure,” it continues. “Additionally, mobilisation has likely led to a workforce shortage across all industries including qualified heating engineers and plumbers.”
The ministry went on to say that Putin had asked Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Aleksandr Kurenkov to resolve the issue, calling it “a key concern for Putin ahead of the forthcoming Russian presidential elections.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Putin’s office via email on Thursday.
While the blackouts have prompted some Russians to directly appeal to Putin and demand accountability from local officials, the heating crisis is far from the only problem the Russian president faces at home.
Domestic discontent is also growing over the rising cost of groceries, with rampant inflation and Western sanctions having pushed the prices of items like eggs, meat and vegetables past the point of being affordable for many Russians.
Family members of deployed Russian troops have also been protesting the treatment of their loved ones in Ukraine, where there is seemingly no end in sight to a conflict that has dragged on for nearly two years.
Opinion polls in Russia indicate that the domestic troubles have done little to impact Putin’s approval rating, which has taken only a tiny hit leading into the election.
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-has-another-crisis-his-hands-1864098
Will this bring pootin’s downfall?
No.
The basic ruskie is a willing slave, who doesn’t mind sitting in the dark, freezing while munching on grass and fried rat to help the tiny little czar murder Ukrainians.
It seems there is no hardship, including freezing, that putler’s fans won’t tolerate in order to achieve the demonic objectives of the rat nazi.
There certainly is an interesting dichotomy going on; Poopin is doing everything possible to destabilize his country…and the West is doing everything possible to keep it stable.
Where’s my vodka?……
Will vodka even help you in this case, Red? Maybe it’s time for something harder. 😬
“Opinion polls in Russia indicate that the domestic troubles have done little to impact Putin’s approval rating, which has taken only a tiny hit leading into the election.”
Being a totalitarian fascist dictatorship, there’s no way of knowing what putler’s true level of support is. No doubt he does have a lot of fans; it’s a truly sick and evil “country.” But Mikhail Khodorkovsky believes it may be a maximum of 40% and therefore a liberal revolution is possible. Personally I doubt it, but you never know!
The turning point might come when Russians discover they have a conscience. So far there has been very little or zero on display. Did Germans feel shame about the Holocaust? Do they even now? I don’t know.
I don’t particularly trust those polls, either.
You apparently know almost nothing about nowaday’s Germany, Scradgel. Once this effing war is over you should come and get a first person view of all the efforts to keep the remembrance of the Holocaust alive.
You made an assumption that my question was hostile. Well it wasn’t. I’m well aware of the efforts of German govts to remind citizens of their terrible past.
I was in Germany quite recently: touring in Bavaria in fact. It was a perfectly pleasant, agreeable experience and most people were extremely polite and friendly.
My dislike of Germans these days is reserved exclusively for putinoid scum like Merkel, Schroeder and AfD.
I was just wondering philosophically whether modern Germans feel shame for the holocaust; that is all.
Germany was occupied by the allies after the war and people forced into cinemas to watch nazi atrocities. Denazification was a success. Something similar was done in Japan. Two countries with terrible histories are now part of the civilized world.
RuZZia was never occupied and denazified of course. The sense of superiority and contempt for “inferior” cultures remains. That is why putler’s brand of national socialism is so popular.