At what point does one say, "Enough is enough!"

 At what point does one say, "Enough is enough!".

Simon Tisdall (left) is correct in pointing out that,

"Nato should talk less and do more, or Ukraine will be torn apart, bit by bit". (The Guardian : 17 April 2022) (my emphasis)

 As he further explains :-

•  Direct, limited Nato military intervention on the ground to create safe havens in western Ukraine, for example, or to target in-theatre artillery, naval and missile forces that bomb civilians, is entirely feasible. The mere threat might give Russia pause. Yet Biden will not hear of it. His fear that it would automatically escalate into all-out Nato-Russia warfare is almost certainly unfounded. 
• 
  Germany, Europe’s supposed leader, is another sorry case. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) says those who perpetrated atrocities in the town of Bucha “must be held accountable”. But that day of reckoning remains a distant dream as long as Scholz continues to reject national and EU-wide energy sanctions and argue over arms supplies
• While a whacking €100bn defence spending increase is promised to protect Germans, Scholz is delaying delivery of a few heavy weapons to protect Ukrainians (ibid Simon Tisdall) (my emphasis)
  

The constant threat of Putin, since February of this year, that he is not afraid to use his nuclear arsenal, has given critical EU leaders a paper shield behind which they now cower to justify, in the words of Simon Tisdall, "...  US-led Nato, the world’s most powerful military alliance, will sit on its hands, apparently prepared, if need be, to watch Ukraine dismembered bit by gruesome bit." (ibid Simon Tisdall) 

BBC News : YouTube : 27 February 2022

 And as NATO sits on the fence, wringing its hands in horror at the genocide being perpetrated by Putin in Ukraine, we now have the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (below), including the German political and intellectual establishment, now having to admit that,

"Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, many German politicians have publicly admitted they got Vladimir Putin wrong. Even German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has apologised, saying it was a mistake to use trade and energy to build bridges with Moscow." (Damien McGuinness : BBC News : 18 April 2022) (my emphasis)

 Steinmeier may now, rather belatedly, give his apologies as Putin continues to rain his death and destruction upon the people of Ukraine but what about Angela Merkel???

The silence from Angela Merkel, this former Chancellor of Germany, is positively deafening! 

Recall Angela Merkel, together with former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder (left), pushing Nord Stream2 as their pet 'economic' project since 2015 , a year AFTER Putin illegally invaded, and annexed, Ukraine's Crimea, ! 

And still true to form, as Damien McGuinness also reports,

"On military support for Ukraine, Berlin says it is prepared to send whatever weapons Kyiv needs. But there are allegations that some [German] ministries are getting tied up in bureaucracy. " (ibid Damien McGuinness) (my emphasis)

And whilst German bureaucracy dithers about sending heavy weapons, such as tanks and fighter jets, to Ukraine to fight against Russia, 

• Humanitarian corridors were closed Sunday due to failed talks between the two countries. That left as many as 100,000 civilians trapped in Mariupol with no way out. (NPR : 17 April 2022) (my emphasis)
• After enduring a brutal assault for more than a month, Ukrainian fighters in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol rejected a Russian deadline to surrender on Sunday and vowed to fight on." (CNN : 17 April 2022) (my emphasis) 
• ...
  

Travis Caldwell and Helen Regan : CNN : 18 April 2022

And as reported by Khaleda Rahman (left),

"Nina Khrushcheva, the great-granddaughter of the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, has warned that Russia may be prepared to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. [  ] said she fears Russian President Vladimir Putin may eventually deploy tactical nuclear weapons to claim victory in Ukraine."  (Newsweek : 17 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile, in France, President Macron still refuses to publically acknowledge that Putin is committing 'genocide' in Ukraine.

As reported by the Economic Times of India,

"The Ukrainian leader said he believed Macron was shying away from using the term "genocide" -- a term Biden has now used regarding the war in Ukraine -- because he thinks it would hurt the chances for diplomatic engagement with Russia.

Macron is in the heat of an election campaign, with a second-round vote against far-right politician Marine Le Pen set for next Sunday.
...
He told France's Radio Bleu on Thursday that it was not helpful to Ukraine "to enter into verbal escalations without drawing all of the conclusions."
...
"The word 'genocide' has a meaning" and "needs to be characterized legally, not by politicians." (Economic Times of India : 17 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Which rather underscores the fact that, since the beginning of Putin's second invasion of Ukraine, Macron still treads the discredited political line of appeasement with Putin that Germany's political elite now regard as "a mistake"!

As I have stated, "At what point does one say, "Enough is enough!""

(to be continued)

Putin's Battle for the Donbas will determine his fate.

 India TV News reports that,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a new commander, Alexandr Dvornikov (left), who would take care of the Ukraine campaign. The newly appointed general is known for his brutal nature and was dubbed the "butcher of Syria". (India TV News : 11 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Alexandr Dvornikov was given the task to, "to come up with a plan to annex Donbass from Ukraine." (ibid India TV News).

In the words of Lt. General Mark Hertling (right), during a CNN interview,

Lt. General Mark Hertling : "He knows the area in which he's serving, and the way he's conducted his combat operations in the past has caused him to ... he's received a lot of medals from Putin himself but he has also been the kind of executioner that we've seen prosecuting his kind of campaigns where there is an awful lot of civilian attacks, civilian destruction, chaos on populations both in Syria and in Grozny .. So this is the guy that is going to be asked to deliver success before the 9 May May Day parade in Moscow."  (CNN : YouTube : 10 April 2022) 

As the White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, also explains in a Fox News interview (10 April 2022),

Jen Psaki : "The reports we're seeing of a change in military leadership, and putting a general (Alexandr Dvornikov) in charge whose responsible for the brutality of the atricities inside of Syria shows that there's going to be a continuation of what we've seen on the grounds in Ukraine. And that's  what we are expecting". (Fox News: Youtube: 10 April 2022) (my emphasis)
 

Already, as reported by Al Jazeera,

"Russian missiles destroyed an airport in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and five emergency workers were injured in the attack.
...
“There has been another attack on Dnipro airport. There is nothing left of it,” Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Sunday." (Al Jazeera : 10 April 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also: BBC News , Reuters )

And whilst Alexandr Dvornikov is starting his genocidal 'blitzkrieg' against the Ukrainian civilians in Dnipro, The Telegraph Online informs us that,

"Russia staged war games on Saturday in Kaliningrad — an enclave on the Baltic Sea sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania — Interfax news agency cited the Baltic Fleet Command as saying.
...
“Up to 1,000 military personnel... and more than 60 military equipment units were involved in the control checks,” Interfax news quoted the Russian Baltic Fleet Command’s press service as saying." (The Telegraph Online : 11 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Whilst these war games of Putin in Kaliningrad could be viewed as a 'maskirovka' diversionary tactic to deflect the eyes of the West from Alexandr Dvornikov's impending blitzkrieg in the Donbas, nonetheless it also ramps up a potential 'spill-over' into Lithuania, a NATO ally.

These Kaliningrad war games could also be directed against Finland and Sweden, who are on the verge of joining NATO.

As reported by Jennifer Hansler and Natasha Bertrand (left),

"Finland and Sweden could soon join NATO, moves that would likely infuriate Moscow and that officials say would further underscore Russia's strategic error in invading Ukraine.

NATO officials told CNN that discussions about Sweden and Finland joining the bloc have gotten extremely serious since Russia's invasion, and US senior State Department officials said the matter came up at this week's NATO foreign ministerial, which was attended by the foreign ministers from Stockholm and Helsinki." (CNN : 9 April 2022) (my emphasis)

As Finland and Sweden swiftly head towards joining NATO, the accelerating downturn of Putin's Russian economy is further compounding his fury against the failures of his army Generals to capture Kiev.

As explained in a BBC interview by Vladimir Milov (left), former Deputy Energy Minister in Putin's government,

Vladimir Milov : "[The effects of sanctions against Putin and his 'siloviki'] ... is being noticed. The basic shortages that we had are mostly the result of panic .... However, the worst is yet to come [....] So  I would say so far is just the very early stage ... there is more to come ... This is very alarming ... We haven't seen anything like that [effects of current sanctions] in ... like .. 30 years ...  We will see some real shortages, much sharper price rises in April ... May ... June ... and further down in summer ..." (BBC Talking Business : 9 April 2022) (my emphasis) 

In the same interview, Putin's former Chief Economic Advisor, Andrei Illarianov (right), explains,

Andrei Illarianov : "We have learned that for Mr. Putin, his territorial ambitions are much more important than anything else,  including the livelihood of the Russian population, the financial situation in the country, even the financial state of his government" (ibid BBC Talking Business) (my emphasis)

With Sweden and Finland fast heading into the arms of NATO, and the Russian economy and people beginning to feel the crippling effects of sanctions on their livelihoods and their jobs, Putin's pathological anger to ensure that he can hold a victorious May Day parade has led him to set in motion an impending bloodbath against both Russian soldiers and the  people of Ukraine in his Battle for the Donbas.

Putin's Battle for the Donbas will determine his fate.  

(to be continued)

For Putin, the stakes are rising.

The UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, held on the 5 April 2022, revealed the political position of the participating countries in relation to Putin's war with Ukraine and, more importantly, their response to the brutal war crimes perpetrated by Russian soldiers in the village of Bucha, amongst many others.

With one voice, all of the participants at the Security Council meeting condemned these brutal war crimes and called for the stepping up of humanitarian assistance to those trapped by Putin's soldiers.

Nearly all of the participants laid the blame squarly for these war crimes at the feet of Putin, except for China and India.

Even more significant, neither the representatives for India and China referred to Putin as waging a WAR in Ukraine. 

The representative for India stated that,

"Humanitarian action must always be guided by the principles of  humanitarian assistance .. humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. These measure should never be politicised. We continue to emphasise to all member states of the UN that the global order is anchored on international law, the UN Charter, and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignity of states" (UN Security Council Meeting : 5 April 2022) (my emphasis) (Full Video: DW News : YouTube : 5 April 2022)

Here it is interesting to note that India's political philosophy of 'non-alignment' i.e. "not taking any side, but sitting on the fence", does not quite square with India now refusing to identify that Putin is waging a war against Ukraine.

Indeed, by not publicly identifying that Putin is waging war against Ukraine, India, by definition, is letting Putin off the hook and, by implication, the world should only speak about crimes committed by Putin's soldiers but NOT war crimes.

If India is letting Putin off the hook of 'war crimes' China, on the other hand, is worried about sanctions being applied to Putin and his 'siloviki'.

In the words of China's representative at the Security Council meeting,

"... Every effort should be made to prevent the escalation of the localised (note: a 'localised' conflict, not a war) conflict.

...
Humanitarian issues should not be politicised ...

Sanctions are not an effective means to solve the problem but will instead accellerate the spillover of the crisis and bring new and complex problems. Today, with the deep development of globalization and the closely linked community of mankind  the implementation of all dimensional and indiscriminate sanctions is tantamount to politicising, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing the world economy trigerring serious crisis in the fields of global economy and trade, finance, energy, food, and industrial trade and supply chain, and endangering decades of development gain of the international community, and making people of all pay a hefty price."

Could this response of the Chinese representative have anything to do with the report of MSN (ABC News) that,

"In a high-stakes video call, President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping spoke Friday morning for an hour and 50 minutes for the first time since November amid concerns that China will help Russian President Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
...
"President Biden detailed our efforts to prevent and then respond to the invasion, including by imposing costs on Russia. He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians," the White House said." (MSN (ABC News) : 18 March 2022) (my emphasis)

It is also interesting to note that before the Security Council meeting, none other than Putin's former 'President stand-in', Dmitry Medvedev, warned that,

"April 1 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's allies warned on Friday that Russia, a major global wheat exporter, could limit supplies of agriculture products to "friendly" countries only, amid Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis." (Reuters : 1 April 2022) (my emphasis)   

Yet even in the face of this political scrambling by Putin not to especially upset those Middle Eastern countries dependent on wheat supplies from Russia, but to limit supplies to the US, GB, and the EU, nonetheless the EU has expanded its sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki'.

As reported by Francesco Guarascio (left),

"The European Commission will propose on Tuesday to EU nations sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including banning imports of coal, wood, chemicals and other products worth about 9 billion euros ($9.86 billion) a year, an EU source told Reuters.
...
The European Union is also to propose a ban on exports to Russia worth another 10 billion euros a year, including of semiconductors, computers, technology for LNG gas, and other electrical and transport equipment, the source said.
...
Russian vessels and trucks would be prevented from accessing the EU, further crippling trade, the source said, with exceptions made for energy products, food and medicines." (Reuters : 5 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Putin is now desperately scraping the barrel of 'retaliation' against sanctions, just as China's President Xi Jinping is also worried that should he help Putin to continue his war against Ukraine, the very same sanctions against Putin and his 'siloviki' could be slapped on a Chinese economy that is already slowing down.

For Putin, the stakes are rising.

(to be continued)

Putin now finds himself against the ropes, flailing in all directions against Ukraine.

 In my blog entry of 17 March 2022 I wrote that,

"Putin's formidable war machine has encountered a Ukrainian force that will not be cowed into submission, no matter what he throws at them." (blog : 17 March 2022)

Since then, the rapidly changing events of Putin's second war with Ukraine has taken the world by storm.

The pushback of Ukrainian forces on ALL fronts against Putin's war machine is taking a heavy toll on Putin's retreating Russian soldiers. 

As reported by BBC News,

"Russia continues to face fierce resistance from Ukraine, more than a month into its invasion.
...
Ukrainian forces have begun attempts to retake some areas from Russia, which said this week it would scale back operations around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv....
...
It has surprised President Putin, and the world, by mounting skilled and stubborn resistance against a larger, better equipped army. Equally, Russian forces have surprised the world by being disorganised and inept. (BBC News : 1 April 2022) (my emphasis) 

Ali Velshi : MSNBC : 1 April 2022

As also reported by Alex Thompson,

"North of the city [Kiev] the wasteland of destruction towards the dormitory town of Irpin, [Russian] bodies still lying uncollected ... the scars left by Russia's retreat from Putin's now abandoned battle for Kiev, the Ukrainain capital"  (Channel 4 : YouTube : 1 April 2022) (my emphasis)

Recall that two weeks ago (March 18 2022) US President Biden warned China's President, Xi Jinping, about the consequences if he provides material support to Putin in his war with Ukraine.

As reported by REFRL,

"U.S. President Joe Biden has outlined to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, the "consequences" of any support for Russia in its war against neighboring Ukraine, the White House said.
...
"He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians," the White House said in a statement.
...
Biden also "underscored his support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis," the statement said." (RFERL : 18 March 2022) (my emphasis)

As Ukraine's offensive against the Russia army continues to succeed, Lexi Lonas reports that,

"The Department of Defense announced on Friday the U.S. will provide Ukraine with $300 million of additional security assistance to Ukraine.
...
The money is aimed to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s invasion that has been going on for more than a month.
...
This package includes tactical secure communications systems, a counter-unmanned aerial system, non-standard machine guns and other defense systems." (The Hill : 1 April 2022) (my emphasis)

US President Biden is not alone in warning Xi Jinping about the consequences should he provide material support to Putin to offset his current material military losses in his war with Ukraine.

As reported by John Follain, Alberto Nardelli, and Jorge Valero,

"European Union leaders plan to tell President Xi Jinping in a summit that China will hurt its global stature if it hands Russia an economic or military lifeline, a pointed message that will test Beijing’s commitment to keep the war from damaging its ties with Brussels.
...
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said China had a “special responsibility” to demand that Russia respect international law and to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty." (Bloomberg : 1 April 2022) (my emphasis) (video below)

Trying to hit back at EU sanctions against him, Putin is now demanding that EU purchases of Russian gas and oil must be made in roubles, which has been roundly rejected by EU members, as France 24 reports.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that all EU purchases of Russian gas must be made in roubles starting April 1, a demand immediately rejected by French and German officials who said they were preparing for a possible halt in Russian supplies. Europe will not be "blackmailed" by Putin, Germany's economy minister said." (France 24: 31 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Sky News Australia : YouTube 1 April 2022

This knee-jerk demand of Putin that payments for Russian oil and gas be made in Roubles highlights the crippling effects of the current, and escalating, sanctions against Putin's Russian economy.

However, as reported by Kate Moody (left),

"Vladimir Putin has backtracked on a demand that European customers pay for Russian natural gas imports in roubles, staving off an immediate supply problem. 

But Germany has activated the first stage of an emergency law that would pave the way for gas rationing. Officials are urging households and businesses to reduce their energy consumption, as they try to diversify their suppliers." (France 24 : 30 March 2022) (my emphasis)

In the wake of Putin's forces retreating from areas near Kiev, what has emerged is the deliberate massacre of the civilians by Russian soldiers as they fled.

 

BBC News : 3 April 2022

As reported by BBC News,

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen said at least 20 dead men, some with their wrists tied, were found on the streets of Bucha.
...
Sergey Nikiforov told the BBC's Sunday Morning show: "We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up... and with shots, bullet holes, in the back of their head.
...
"They were clearly civilians and they were executed. We found half-burned bodies as if somebody tried to hide their crimes but they didn't have enough time to do it properly."
(BBC News : 3 April 2022) (my emphasis) 

Liz Truss (right), UK Foreign Secretary said,

"We will not rest until those responsible for atrocities, including military commanders and individuals in the Putin regime, have faced justice,"

She said it was essential the international community continued to provide Ukraine with military and humanitarian support - and step up sanctions.
...
Other nations have also condemned Russian forces' actions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the images of bodies in the streets of Bucha as a "punch in the gut".
...
EU chief Charles Michel pledged further sanctions on Moscow. "Shocked by haunting images of atrocities committed by Russian army in Kyiv liberated region #BuchaMassacre," the European Council head wrote on Twitter....

Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock denounced President Putin's "uninhibited violence", saying Russia must pay for its "war crimes" in Bucha in the form of more severe sanctions." (ibid BBC News)

Like a punch drunk opponent, Putin now finds himself against the ropes, flailing in all directions against Ukraine and its people.

 (to be continued)

Unless Putin is forcibly stopped now, the barbaric killing of Ukrainians will continue.

The diplomatic brouhaha about the recent remark of US President Biden that Putin  'should not remain in power' reveals much about those Heads of State decrying his remark.

As reported by Elizabeth Elkind,

"France's President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday warned against an escalation 'in words and action', hours after US President Joe Biden on Saturday branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'butcher' who 'cannot remain in power' (Mail Online : 27 March 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also : BBC News : 27 March, Euronews : 27 March)

She further reports that,

"The [Council of Foreign Relations President Richard Haass] .. told Politico that Biden needs to send Blinken or National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, or another similar high-ranking official, to speak with their Russian counterparts and assure them the US would not seek regime change. (ibid Elizabeth Elkind)

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is a up for election for a second term next month, and who is positioning himself as the political 'voice' of the EU, should heed what Mikhail Khordokovsky said in a recent interview with Beth Rigby (Sky News: YouTube: 17 March 2022)

Beth Rigby : Are you angry that some of the oligarchs that have been sanctioned by the US, the UK, the European union, that people will not speak out ... leading figures in Russian society .. Very few of them will speak out .. Does that make you angry? Or is that what you expected ..

Mikhail Khordokovsky : I had expected those people not to be very brave, to be greedy, for whom their own wealth is worth much more than thousands of lives. But I did have some hope for some of them. And of course I am very upset about the way they behave today.

Further on in the interview :

Beth Rigby : How do you feel about [Putin] now. Do you hate him? Do you fear him? 

Mikhail Khordokovsky : I have been fighting Putin for almost twenty years, and I thought I knew his limits, his red lines. Today he is a real fascist. Without any exaggeration, a fascist pure and simple, a Russian fascist. ...... [ ] And so he has found his mission. But even having acquired this mission and having become a real fascist for who a mission is worth much more than any number of human lives. .... [ Further on in the interview Khordokovsky remarks that] "A thug [Putin] is not ready for any compromise"

Now it could be argued that diplomacy requires you to use language that cannot be mis-interpreted, since such mis-interpretations could have serious repercussions.

And already we have Putin's mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov (left), railing against what US President Biden said about Putin.

As reported by Fatma Khaled (right),

"His [ US President Biden] remarks were met with backlash from multiple officials, including Peskov who warned that "each time such personal insults narrow the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current [U.S.] administration. It is necessary to be aware of this."
...
The Kremlin spokesperson [Dmitry Peskov] also said that "a state leader should keep their temper." (MSN News (Newsweek) : 27 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Fatma Khaled further reported that,

"Former CIA director David Petraeus (left) said on Sunday during a TV appearance on ABC's This Week ...

"Headlines will move on to something else within a few days, but in the mind of Putin...it could complicate matters," he added." (ibid Fatma Khaled)

In essence, what these critics of US President Biden's remarks are really bemoaning about US President Biden's remarks about Putin is that these remarks simply anger him to dig in his heels against diplomatic compromise and, more dangerously, act even more barbaric against the people of Ukraine.

But, as Khordokovsky so succinctly put it (cf: Beth Rigby interview above) , 

"But even having acquired this mission [invading Ukraine for the second time] and having become a real fascist for who a mission is worth much more than any number of human lives. ..... "A thug [Putin] is not ready for any compromise"

No matter how you slice or dice it, since Putin's 2014 invasion of, and annexation of, Ukraine's Crimea, and his subsequent war with Ukraine in the Donbas, the West has failed the Ukrainian people by trying to appease Putin, with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel leading the brigade of appeasement since 2014, up until her retirement in 2021.

And today??

Ukraine has become Putin's Auswich, Dachau, Sobibor, and Treblinka, all rolled into one, whilst the likes of French President Macron ," warn[s] against an escalation 'in words and action' " because of what Biden said (cf: Elizabeth Elkind), and Putin's mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, actually supporting Macron by stating that, "a state leader [viz. President Biden] should keep their temper." (cf. Fatma Khaled) (video below:  Joe Scarborough : MSNBC : 28 March 2022)

 

Yet the Macron's of this world have been cowed by Putin as he constantly brandishes his 'nuclear' cudgels against them.

And so Putin's bombings of Ukraine's civilians, and his soldiers' raping of Ukrainian women, continues while the world watches on.

In the words of Khordokovsky, "[Putin's mission to force the Ukrainian people into submission to his will]  is worth much more [to him] than any number of human lives. (cf: Beth Rigby interview)

Unless Putin is forcibly stopped now, the barbaric killing of Ukrainians will continue. 

(to be continued)

Now at his most dangerous, Putin has no political "wiggle room" left to 'save face'.

There is an old English saying, "The Worm Has Turned".

This saying is used to describe when a person or group of people who have been treated badly for a long time suddenly become forceful and stop accepting a difficult situation. (Cambridge Dictionary).

We are now beginning to hear that 'all is not well' amongst Putin's 'siloviki'.

As reported by Lawrence O'Donnell ,

"Tonight there are growing signs of dissention in the ranks of the inner circle surrounding Russia dictator Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin is confirming today that Anatoly Chubais (right), [ ... ] has stepped down from his role as Moscow's Climate Envoy, making him the highest ranking official to break with Putin over the invasion of Ukraine. Multiple outlets are now reporting that he has left the country ..." (MSNBC : 24 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Besides Anatoly Chubais, who oversaw the privatization of Russia's industry during the Yeltsin regime, we now also learn that none other than the defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who has described Ukrainians as “non-humans”, now also finds himself out in the cold.

As reported by Will Stewart and Alahna Kindred,

"Vladimir Putin's defence minister has vanished with "heart problems" as the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine stalls.
...
Sergei Shoigu (left) has not been seen for 12 days and old footage or pictures have been shown of him on TV, say reports in opposition" (The Mirror : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis)

MSNBC : 26 March 2022: YouTube

 And it has now also emerged that,

"Russia’s highly regarded central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina (right) sought to resign after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, only to be told by the president to stay, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions.
...
Some central bank officials describe a state of hopelessness in the weeks since the invasion, feeling trapped in an institution that they fear will have little use for their market-oriented skills and experience as Russia is cut off from the world. At one point, the pace of departures was intense enough that the IT department was short of hands to terminate accounts." (Bloomberg : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Amongst other developments, as revealed by Andrei Soldatov to Isaac Chotiner (right),

• 
  Putin publicly berated the director of the S.V.R., [Sergey Naryshkin] the foreign-intelligence agency (cf also: Business Insider, The Guardian , amongst numerous other reports)
  
• Two and a half weeks later, we got news about the F.S.B. foreign-intelligence branch, because the F.S.B. also has a foreign-intelligence branch coming under attack. We now know about two people, two top-level officials at this department, being questioned and placed under house arrest.
  
• the deputy head of the National Guard [ ... ] was detained, the official version is that he was just asked to resign (The New Yorker : 22 March 2022) (my emphasis)

And against this backdrop of turmoil, arrests, and resignations, Nebi Qena and Cara Anna report that,

"NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce resistance from the country’s defenders has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.
...
By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan." (AP News : 24 March 2022) (my emphasis)

As explained to Lawrence O'Donnell by Phillips O'Brien, Strategic Studies Professor at the University of St. Andrews,

 

" Lawrence O'Donnell : "What do you see as the military status of the war .. "

 

  Phillips O'Brian : "The fundamental problems the Russians are facing is that they have started a campaign with no idea what they were taking on and they don't seem able to admit what they have done " (MSNBC : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also: DW : YouTube : 23 March 2022)

 

 

Now the Moscow Times informs us that,

 

"Russia will force Europe to start paying for gas supplies in rubles, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday in televised remarks.
...
“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payments for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles,” Putin said, ordering the changes to be implemented within a week." (Moscow Times : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis)

 

No doubt this ploy of Putin is to try and support the exchange value of the Ruble.

This sudden change towards Rubles as payment may also have been brought about by the fact that,

"The lines for sugar in Saratov were hard not to compare to the Soviet era, part of a recent run on Russian staples that have revived fears that the Kremlin’s invasion in Ukraine will lead to a virtual slide back to the shortages or endless queues of the Soviet Union

[.....]

More worryingly, medicines such as insulin have begun disappearing from pharmacy shelves. Some polls have indicated that Russian doctors are facing shortages of more than 80 medicines at pharmacies, including insulin and a popular children’s anti-inflammation medicine." (Andrew Roth : The Guardian : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis)

 

 

All of which underscores US President Biden's assertion that,

"President Biden on Wednesday warned there is a "real threat" that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use chemical weapons against Ukraine.

“I think it’s a real threat,” Biden said when asked about his level of concern about Putin's use of chemical weapons." (Alex Gangitano : The Hill : 23 March 2022) (my emphasis)

Today US President Biden will be attending a full day's meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

 

As reported by Ashley Parker, Tyler Pager, and Emily Rauhala,

 

"President Biden arrived Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels for a full day of emergency meetings aimed at stopping Russia’s war in Ukraine — and keeping the military alliance unified in efforts to pressure Moscow as the war enters its second month." (MSN (Washington Post) : 24 March 2022) (my emphasis)

 

It now remains to be seen what will ultimately emerge out of this NATO meeting.

 

And as members of his 'siloviki' begin to abandon the sinking ship of Putin's fatal and misguided invasion of Ukraine, and with  his General of the Russian Army, Sergei Shoigu, now incommunicado, Putin simply has no political "wiggle room" to 'save face'. 

(to be continued)