Russians Edging Toward Recognition Moscow will Never Win in Ukraine, ‘The Forbidden Opinion’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 28 – When former Russian Airborne commander and now Duma deputy Vladimir Shamanov says that it will take Russia “another five to ten years” to defeat Ukraine, he is really saying that Moscow will never achieve that outcome, according to The Forbidden Opinion telegram channel.

            That is because, the channel says, Russians have become used to the idea that anything the regime promises will happen not soon but in five to ten years will never happen be it an improvement in their standard of living or, as in this case, victory in some military operation (t.me/TheForbiddenOpinion/6290 reposted at kasparov.ru/material.php?id=629393A9070DB).

            Consequently, The Forbidden Opinion suggests, when Russian leaders begin to talk about a lengthy war, they are edging toward the idea that Moscow is not going to win without directly saying so – and by implication that when such leaders do make these remarks, they are giving sanction to other Russians to draw the same conclusion.  

            If the telegram channel is correct, and if such statements do open the way to an understanding that Russia can’t or at least won’t win in Ukraine, that in and of itself changes the game in Moscow, putting more pressure on the Kremlin to get a victory quickly lest the sense set in among Russians that Vladimir Putin has gotten them into a quagmire without an exit.