Defeat. This word is currently booming in Russia. Greg Yudin, head of the political philosophy department at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka), writes just that on Twitter. “An important indicator for me is how often people in Russia talk about a possible defeat. I have to admit that this happens really often now. This is a dramatic turnaround compared to the first months of the war.”
The few successes and high losses on the battlefields in Ukraine have apparently made it clear to the Russian population that the “military special operation” is not going as smoothly as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized. Yudin: “For quite a while, no one said the word ‘defeat’. Even those who thought the invasion was a crazy decision didn’t. This has changed now.”
“I don’t know how this war could end in victory”
The majority of Russians are still trying to ignore what is happening in the neighboring country. But more and more of them would deal with the fact that at the end of this war there could be a “defeat”. In the meantime, even military leaders such as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov or Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigoschin would speak of a “very difficult situation” or an “emerging catastrophe”.
According to Yudin, this affects mood. Her language is like the providence of defeat. Again and again he would hear: “I don’t know how this war could end in victory.” Even close to Putin, people lost confidence.
Yudin continues: “Morale in the Russian army is very low.” As a result, Putin continues to have great problems convincing new recruits. “No one wants to be part of an army of losers,” Yudin said.
What could a possible defeat look like?”
Yudin comes to a central question for him: What could a possible defeat look like? In this context, Putin repeatedly conjures up the image that the enemy would then invade Russia, rape Russian women, kill children and divide up the country. A story that, according to Yudin, is still massively engaging. “I’ve heard several times from people who otherwise keep a cool head that everything is very bad and that NATO is a real threat. The phrase is often heard: ‘If we don’t take Kiev, they will take Moscow’.”
For Yudin, it is important to make a distinction: a defeat for Russia would not mean a defeat for all Russians. Those responsible should be held accountable after a defeat. The Russian people, on the other hand, who, according to Yudin, lost at the beginning of the war because they are now being ostracized, must then rebuild the country and restore relations with their neighbors.
“Ending the war respecting the borders of all countries would not be a defeat for Russia, but the beginning of its reconstruction.”
