Yuri Josef Koszarycz
Retired Senior Lecturer in Theological Ethics at Australian Catholic University (ACU)
Dec 29, 2025
Leonid Ivashov, a heavy-hitting retired Russian Colonel General, recently went rogue and started saying out loud what most people in the Kremlin only dare to whisper. He didn’t hold back, basically calling things out for being a mess.
The Big Picture: “We’re in Trouble”: Ivashov starts by basically saying Russia is a mess right now. He’s not sugarcoating it: we’re lonely on the world stage (only a handful of countries even talk to us at the UN), and we’ve lost our influence over our neighbours. He even compares Putin’s era to the start of the Soviet collapse under Gorbachev—lots of talk, but everything is breaking.
- The “Broken Stuff” List: He goes through a laundry list of things that aren’t working:
- Planes: We can’t build our own passenger jets. We’re basically cannibalising old Boeings for parts.
- Space: He tells a wild story about how the last working manned launchpad at Baikonur was accidentally torched because of poor maintenance. Now, Russia can’t effectively send people into space.
- Food: He warns that the food in the shops is becoming toxic garbage filled with palm oil because the economy is so squeezed.
- Corruption: He mentions that 11 trillion rubles were allegedly stolen by the Ministry of Defence. He points out that almost every big corrupt official is a member of the ruling party.
- The “Spectacle” (The Press Conference): He calls Putin’sPutin’s annual “Direct Line” a brilliant theatrical performance.
The Setup: Everything was staged—the suit, the tie, even the camera angles to hide putin’s nervous leg twitching.
The Script: He says the questions were totally rehearsed. PPutinutin knew what was coming. The few “real” questions from foreign journalists were just dodged with “whataboutism” or jokes.
The “Reality Gap”: While Putin was smiling and talking about how great the economy is, the “ticker tape” on the screen showed real people from the regions begging for water, roads, and enough money to buy medicine.
- The War (Tactics vs. Strategy): Ivashov is really unimpressed with the military leadership.
- Small Thinking: He says Putin is stuck at a “tactical” level—bragging about taking one tiny village or a single house.
The NATO Gap: He admits that Ukraine, backed by NATO tech and satellite intel, is hitting Russia where it hurts (oil refineries and airfields), while Russia is just throwing shells at the problem.
- The Demographic “Cliff”: He’s really worried that Russians are simply dying out. The birth rate is way below what’s needed to survive, and Putin’s excuse is just “well, it’s a global trend.” Ivashov thinks that’s a cop-out for a country that’s literally shrinking.
The Verdict: Ivashov ends up looking pretty defeated. He basically says: “Look, I’ve been a professor, a general, and a student of geopolitics for decades. I watched this whole 4-hour show, and I didn’t see a leader, a commander, or a protector of the people. I just saw a guy living in a fairy tale while the rest of the country is struggling to survive on 16,000 rubles a month.”
Basically, his message is: The “Spectacle” looks great on TV, but you can’t eat a stage play, and you can’t fly a museum piece to space.
