Analysts note that on November 21, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the change of the current government in Ukraine is not the goal of the Russian “military special operation” and indicated that Vladimir Putin “has already talked about this.”
Peskov’s words probably had a purpose mitigate the consequences of the pro-war speech by Federation Council Deputy Chairman Konstantin Kosachev, who said that Russia “can normalize relations with Ukraine only after the capitulation of the Ukrainian government.”
“These two statements are opposites. Milblogger, associated with PMC Wagner, in response to Peskov’s statement sarcastically noted that Russia is waging an aimless war without a clear goal,” the ISW said.
Experts explained that “the Kremlin’s reluctance to publicly and fully surrender to extreme nationalist ideology and war confuses the propagandists who preach such ideology to the Russian masses.”
The Institute for the Study of War added that, at the same time, Putin himself tends to balance extreme arguments to garner support from the nationalist community and a more moderate narrative to maintain support from the rest of the Russian population.
“However, Russia’s military failures and mounting casualties mean that Putin’s deliberate concealment of war goals and attempts to balance the rhetoric only fuel discontent among critical groups,” the analysts concluded. .
ISW main achievements:
- The Russian military has launched another massive coordinated missile strike against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
- Russian politicians continue to propagate openly genocidal rhetoric against Ukraine.
- Russian sources say that Ukrainian troops continued counter-offensive actions in the direction of Kremennaya and Svatovoe.
- Russian troops continued offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka area.
- Russian troops continued to defend themselves on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region.
The Kremlin continues crypto-mobilization at the expense of other Russian special services. - The occupiers continue to forcibly displace local residents and confiscate their properties.
