Putin Runs Into The Wall

The Kremlin is unable to change the trajectory.

The Russian authorities tried to present the Tbilisi protests as an attempt by the United States to organize the Maidan in Georgia, afraid of being suspected of originality. Are fellow citizens ready to accept this explanation?

The Kremlin was promoting the same idea with might and main during the 2019 Moscow protests. They were telling that they were the Pentagon's watchdogs who took to the street. The Levada Center then conducted an all-Russian poll, during which it asked the Russians the following question: “How likely is it that the protests in Moscow occurred as a result of Western interference?”

The option “Western intervention is one of the main reasons for the protests in Moscow” was chosen only by 26% of the respondents at that time. Exactly the same number of people said that "even if there were attempts to intervene, it is unlikely that it affected anything". The option “There is no Western interference in the Moscow elections, this is an attempt to defame the protesters” gained 32%.

In fact, the myth of Western intervention has not worked for a long time now. It's not even the main point, people are simply tired of it after so many years of use. No, the most important thing is that the political context has changed in the country. Previously, people believed that Putin would improve their lives and did not want to protest against the current course. When they looked at disgruntled liberals, they did not understand their motivation. It seemed to them to be kind of far-fetched and spined something out of nothing. In the previous situation, the Kremlin's explanation that the opposition was protesting because the US State Department was paying for it seemed convincing. However, the current situation is completely different. People do not believe in the prospects of the country, all promises turned into a complete disappointment. There are more and more reasons for dissatisfaction among the people, and in this situation, protests no longer seem to them something unnatural. When people have their own reasons for dissatisfaction, they begin to understand the motivation for dissatisfaction of others. Any attempts to declare the protesters to be agents of the US State Department seem to them redundant and far-fetched under these conditions.

However, the Kremlin has nothing else to offer. Putin is unable to change. Once having chosen the direction, he no longer changes it. He will follow it until he runs into the wall.

Abbas Gallyamov, Telegram