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Putin’s Great Mistake? — The Russian People Leave after War & Annexations
It has been a couple of months since Putin chose to annex further territory and stage sham referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
On paper, these annexations mean nothing. They are entirely illegal and undemocratic. Even Iran failed to recognize them at the time they were held. Former allies from Kazakhstan to Turkey all raised their doubts because of the ramifications for world order.
Have the annexations really played out in the way that Putin wanted?
P.S. stick around for a special announcement at the end of this article.
Arguably, the primary reason Putin wanted to annex territory in the east of Ukraine was the potential popularity it could garner in Russia.
The war was becoming costly with no end in sight and tens of thousands of dead Russians never to return to their homeland.
Putin needed a win to bring back to the Russian people who feel the crunch of inflation as much as the rest of us do — if not more.
Indeed, when Putin announced the annexation of Crimea in 2014, many in Russia nodded in approval. According to estimates compiled by the Levada-Center reveal, his approval rating went up to 86 percent.
