Putin is now trapped between demonstrating Russians, possible new US sanctions, and US arms flowing into Ukraine.

You can fool some of the people all of the time,

All of the people some of the time,

But you cannot fool all of the people, all of the time.

(Abraham Lincoln)

So it is that Vladimir Putin, the 'teflon' czar of Russia, has backed down from his 'pension reform', a reform that attempted to raise the retirement age of Russians already struggling under the yoke of a failing economy, in the face of a growing chorus of Russians demonstrating against this reform.

Adding to Putin's current woes is the fact that, as reported by RFERL,

"President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Security Council have described possible new U.S. sanctions against Moscow as "absolutely illegal," Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying." (RERL : August 10, 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, it should come as no surprise that Dmitry Medvedev is now echoing Putin's anger at the demonstrating Russians by stating that, 

"... Moscow would consider it a "declaration of economic war" and would retaliate "economically, politically, or, if needed, by other means" if the United States imposes bans on Russian banks or their use of a particular currency." (ibid RFERL) (my emphasis)

Further raising the anger of Putin is, as reported by Ray Sanchez and Nathan Hodge,

"The leader of Russian-backed separatists [Alexander Zakharchenko (right)] in Ukraine's Donetsk region was killed in an explosion at a cafe Friday, Russian state news agencies and separatist officials said." (CNN : August 31, 2018)

This anger of Putin is perhaps best expressed by that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov (below left), who, in the immediate aftermath of  Zakharchenko's death, stated that,

"... further talks in the Normandy Four format were "impossible" after the murder of the leader of the "DPR" terrorist organization, Alexander Zakharchenko" (UNIAN : 01 September 2018) (my emphasis)

Yet, only two weeks ago,

"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (right) told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper Germany hoped to "create new momentum" in the Minsk peace process" (CNBC : Sun, 19 Aug 2018) (my emphasis)

Where, now, does this recent pronouncement of Lavrov leave Merkel and Maas?

More significantly, as reported by UNIAN,

"Washington is ready to expand arms supplies to Ukraine in order to build up the country’s naval and air defense forces in the face of continuing Russian support for militants in Donbas, according to the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker. (left)" (UNIAN : 01 September 2018) (my emphasis) 

Trump cannot come to Putin's rescue either on the implementation of possible new US sanctions against himself and his cronies, nor on the impending expansion of arms to Ukraine since Trump, himself, is fast beginning to loose favor with the American public.

 As reported by MSNBC (31 Aug. 2018),

"... Disapproval of President Trump's job performance has reached a new high. ... Just 36% of Americans approve of the President's job performance, with 60% disapproving ..."

In two months time the mid-term US elections will be held. The Democratic Party may, after these elections, control the House of Congress.

Trump is already considering the possibility of the start of impeachment proceedings against him if the Democrats win control of the US Congress this coming November. (cf. Steve Benen : MSNBC : 23 August, 2018)

Did Medvedev therefor have the US mid-term elections in mind when he stated that,

"... Moscow would consider it a "declaration of economic war" and would retaliate "economically, politically, or, if needed, by other means" if the United States imposes bans on Russian banks or their use of a particular currency." (ibid RFERL) (my emphasis)

Putin is now trapped between the rock of demonstrating Russians and the hard place of possible new US sanctions, and US arms flowing into Ukraine.

Will he now redouble his efforts to ensure that the Republicans win in the November mid-term elections, as he did for Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections?

(to be continued)