Putin is hammering the final nail in the coffin of the ex Soviet Union

Adrian Karatnycky (left) and Alexander Motyl (right) suggest that,

"Putin’s adventure in eastern Ukraine is now dragging him down. The temporary upside for his popularity is outweighed by the economic burdens of the occupation [of Ukrainian Crimea] and the costs of further expansion.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, Putin may be losing interest in the Ukraine project. A person party to the September 2 phone conversation between French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Putin said that the Russian president appeared unengaged and was not in command of the nuanced details of the discussion.

Instead, he was more interested in complaining that Ukraine was not buying Russian gas at a cheaper price than it gets from European and other international sources. ( Foreign Policy :20 Oct., 2015) (my emphasis)

As they explain,

" ...[At his recent (28 Sept., 2015) speech at the UN] he spent only a minute on the Ukrainian conflict, focusing instead on Russia’s constructive role in the Middle East." (ibid Karatnycky and Alexander Motyl) (my emphasis)

 In an article entitled, "Most of Russia’s military still ‘rubbish’ despite Ukraine, Syria deployments", Matthew Gault (left) indirectly supports the above contention of Karatnycky and Alexander Motyl that Putin’s adventure in eastern Ukraine is now dragging him down.
He writes that,

"The Russian president faces political and economic difficulties at home and Russia’s military is not as powerful as it seems. “Putin does not have significant numbers of the kind of troops you can deploy in this [the Syrian] kind of environment,” Galeotti explained to War College." (Reuters : October 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

(Podcast of Discussion between Matthew Gault and Galleoti)

Perhaps a most significant indicator that Putin is being dragged down by his near 'messianic' adventurism in Ukrainian Crimea, and his current war in eastern Ukraine, is exemplified by the fact that,

"Authorities in Russia [...] have charged the single mom with inciting ethnic hatred for sharing links related to the Ukraine conflict on social media.

[Yekaterina ] Vologzheninova faces up to four years in prison depending on the outcome of her trial, which began earlier this month at a Yekaterinburg court." (RFERL : October 21, 2015)

And whilst Yekaterina Vologzheninova is facing imprisonment in Russia for simply sharing links about an alternative interpretation of Putin's war with Ukraine, wreckage of MH17 still litters the countryside of Putin's rebel occupied eastern Ukraine, and

 

Brinda Banerjee (left) reminds us that,

 

"A Russian-made rocket launcher [Burantino] was found in Ukraine in September this year. The discovery has raised questions regarding Moscow’s denials about sending arms and troops to back the insurgency in East Ukraine. The United Kingdom is currently pursuing an explanation about the same."

...The Buratino was designed with the express purpose of destroying adversaries seeking refuge in reinforced constructions, lightweight armored vehicles and open expanses. (Valuewalk : October 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

Yet we are to believe that,

" .... pro-Russian insurgents said Tuesday they had begun withdrawing tanks and smaller weapons from the frontline splitting the devastated Donetsk region in the ex-Soviet state's eastern war zone." (124News : October 20th 2015)

As in the case of Yekaterina Vologzheninova, who is facing imprisonment in Russia for simply sharing links about an alternative interpretation of Putin's war with Ukraine, can we really believe that Putin has "lost interest in his Ukrainian project", as  Adrian Karatnycky and Alexander Motyl presume?

Or is this an indicator that, like the fall of Nikita Khrushchev in October 1964, Putin too may be heading in the same direction.

 (to be continued)