Is Putin beginning to loose his grip?

In the very first entry of this blog I wrote that,

"It is always easy to start a story with, “It happened when” …. or “It was a sunny day” … or any of the myriad opening lines that authors are so fond of using. But how do you begin a story that is simply a part of your life. If you believe in coincidences you simply hang the beginning of your story on a coincidence. But that is cheating. There are really no coincidences in life. Life is not simply a series of random coincidences." (blog entry : Tuesday, 10 June 2014)

The same can be said of political events.

So can it be a coincidence that,

"Geoffrey Pyatt (left), who currently heads the American Embassy in Ukraine, will become the next US ambassador in Greece, the US Senate confirmed Friday.

Pyatt is to replace David D. Pearce who is to depart from Athens in September.

The US Embassy in Athens confirmed the appointment on Twitter on Friday. " (Ekathimerini : 15.07.2016) (my emphasis) 

and that within two weeks of Ambassador Pyatt preparing to leave the American Embassy in Kiev,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree releasing Mikhail Zubarov (right) from his post as Russian ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday, according to a statement on the Kremlin's website.

Zubarov has been Russia's ambassador to Ukraine since 2009, having previously served as a presidential advisor. His firing was part of a significant governmental reshuffle on Thursday." (Moscow Times : Jul 29, 2016) (my emphasis)

 And on the war front in Donbas between Putin's Russian soldiers, together with his rebel proxies, and the Ukrainian army,

"According to Ukraine's military intelligence, the leaders of the so-called “DPR-LPR” terrorist organizations urgently recalled all militants from holidays and vacations and banned them from leaving their bases, TSN news service reported." (Unian : 22 July 2016) (my emphasis)

whilst, in his last few days as US Ambassador to Ukraine,

"Pyatt noted that the United States had pledged to provide more than $600 million dollars in aid to Ukraine in the field of security.

According to him, another batch of equipment is to be delivered to Ukraine this week, mentioning a big delivery of UAVs and more night vision devices expected to follow in the coming days." (Unian : 26 July 2016) (my emphasis)

This escalation of events on the Ukrainian war front precipipitated a call between President Obama and Angela Merkel.

As reported by Ukraine-Interfax,


"The president and the chancellor discussed the situation in Ukraine and reiterated the urgent importance of durably ending the violence in eastern Ukraine and of full and rapid implementation of the Minsk agreements," reads a posting on the website of the White House." (Ukraine-Interfax : 28.07.2016) (my emphasis)

 A further call took place between Ukrainian President Poroshenko and Angela Merkel.

"President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had phone conversation with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

[Poroshenko] expressed deep concern over the drastic escalation of the situation in Donbas and the increased number of casualties caused by the intensification of artillery shelling by Russian militants and continuation of armament supply from Russia." (1492News : Wednesday, July 27 2016) (my emphasis)

In line with the discussion that Merkel had with President Obama, Merkel and Poroshenko also,

"... discussed the elaboration of the clear roadmap of the Minsk agreements implementation, which should include the fulfillment of the security component by Russia." (ibid 1492News) (my emphasis)

The change of US and Russian ambassadors in Kiev, an escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbas, and those calls between Merkel and President Obama and Merkel and Poroshenko, all seem to indicate that a sea-change is taking place.

This sea-change is coming just prior to the September Duma elections in Russia, as well as the November presidential elections in the US.

No doubt Putin already has a 'blueprint' of what the Duma election results should be.

As we already know, to protect himself from any backlash against his 'blueprint' results of the Duma elections, Putin has readied his Praetorian Guard, whose duty it will be to ruthlessly deal with any popular Russian sentiment against his Duma results spreading onto the streets of Moscow, or anywhere else in Russia.  

Now, more than ever, Putin is praying for a Trump victory in the US Presidential race in November. 

Unlike his "blueprinted" Duma elections, all that he can do is to surreptitiously aid Trump in his battle with Hilary Clinton.

Maybe, just maybe, Trump inadvertently spilled the beans about Putin helping him in his presidential race when he called upon Putin to,

"..... if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” (Ashley Parker and David Sanger : Washington Post : July 27, 2016) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)