Putin cannot sleep for the 'political' nightmares he's now having.

The Kremlin is in 'panic' mode!

Since US President Biden handed over the torch to US Vice-president Kamala Harris (left), Putin's mouthpieces have been falling over their feet to re-asses their coming inteference in the upcoming US presdential race.

No longer will they have US President Biden to contend with but Vice President Kamala Harris who, throughout her vice-presidency,

"Harris has supported her administration’s stance on Ukraine, which has involved sending the country aid.

Trump is likely to attack this record as he has already pledged to cut aid for the war-torn country." (Alexa Phillips: The I on Microsoft Start: 23 July 2024) (my emphasis)

As reported by Chris Samuel, the more bizarre statements issueing fom Putin's mouthpieces include,

"[Russian Duma Speaker Vyacheslav] Volodin (right), a former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, also inexplicably claimed the Democrat should be held accountable "for the war unleashed in Ukraine, the destruction of the economies of European states, the sanctions policy against Russia and other countries", as per MailOnline. (Express: 22 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov noted that none other than Putin's Kremlin mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskove (right; below), has stated that,

"The Kremlin on Monday was cautious about the possibility of Kamala Harris's U.S. presidential candidacy, saying that the vice president had made no discernable contribution to relations with Moscow beyond some unfriendly rhetoric.
...
 For Russia, Peskov said, the priority was achieving the goals of what President Vladimir Putin calls the special military operation in Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin was unable to assess what a Harris candidacy would mean for relations because Moscow had so far noticed no contribution at all from Harris to those relations besides some instances of unfriendly rhetoric, Peskov said. (Reuters: 22 July 2024) (my emphasis) 

Putin is not the only one pulling out his hair in anger at Kamala Harris being endorsed by Biden as the Democratic Party candidacy to confront Putin's Trump in the upcoming US presidential race.

Putin's EU supporter, Victor Orban, has had his wings severly clipped.

As reported by Christy Cooney (left),

"The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borell, has stripped Hungary  (Victor Orban, Hungary P.M.: right) of the right to host the next meeting of foreign and defence ministers over its stance on the war in Ukraine.
...
The next set of meetings will take place on 28-30 August and were to be held in Budapest, but on Monday Mr Borrell announced they would instead take place in Brussels." (BBC News: 23 July 2024 (my emphasis)

Christy Cooney goes on to report that,

"Citing comments made after the meeting with Mr Putin in which Mr Orban accused the EU of having a "pro-war policy", Mr Borrell told reporters: "If you want to talk about the war party, talk about Putin."

"I can say that all member states - with one single exception - are very much critical about this behaviour." (ibid  Christy Cooney)

DW News: 22 July 2024: YouTube

To add to the growng fears of Victor Orban, Victor Jack and Gabriel Gavin (left) report that,

"Hungary is racing against time to avoid power outages and fuel shortages after Ukraine imposed a partial ban on Russian oil passing through its territory.
...
Kyiv last month imposed sanctions blocking the transit of pipeline crude sold by Moscow’s largest private oil firm, Lukoil, to Central Europe — partially negating an exemption to sanctions set up by the European Union to give Russian-reliant countries extra time to wean off supplies.

Ukraine's aim is to throttle a key source of revenue for the Kremlin’s war chest more than two years after its full-scale invasion of the country." (Politico: 20 July 2024) (my emphasis)

We also learn from Joe Middleton and Shweta Sharma that,

"Ukraine has launched a major aerial attack on Putin’s forces for the second night in a row, targeting occupied Crimea in an overnight assault that local officials said involved at least 21 drones.
...
Monday night’s assault on the Crimean port of Sevastopol came as Volodymyr Zelensky’s foreign minister began a rare four-day visit to China, during which he will meet Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Dmytro Kuleba’s task will be to put Ukraine’s case to Russia’s most important ally. He said he would be discussing “the restoration of peace, deepening our bilateral dialogue, expanding trade and economic cooperation” during the visit." (The Independent on Microsoft Start: 23 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Further precipitating a meltdown in the Kremlin, 

• The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced on July 22 that Ukraine is expected to receive the first transfer of $1.5 billion in payments from Russian frozen assets at the beginning of August. (Rachel Amran: Kyiv Independent on Microsoft Start: 23 July 2024) (my emphasis)
• Slovakia’s defense minister is pushing for a major boost to ammunition production. Yet while his government steadfastly refuses to arm Ukraine, Slovak-made shells are ending up there. (Daniel Hornak and Andrea Dudik: Bloomberg UK: 22 July 2024) (my emphasis)
•  Bulgaria is working on a new arms package for Ukraine, said the country's caretaker Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov on Monday. (YeniSafak: 23 July 2024) (my emphasis)

Passing on the baton to Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden has further invigorated the stance against Putin and his war with Ukraine.

As the ropes for supporting Putin begin to tighten around the waist of Victor Orban, his most ardent supporter in the EU, and those 'critical' talks between Ukraine and China; are these giving Putin even more 'political' nightmares?

 

 

 

(to be continued)