Putin must prepare for “eternal war” with the West

From the Russian point of view, the war in Ukraine was originally supposed to last only a few weeks. But because of Ukrainian resistance, Russia has been fighting in the neighboring country for more than a year — and is suffering heavy losses. The Kremlin is now preparing for years of conflict.

According to the report of the British “Guardian”, several high-ranking government officials celebrated a private party in Moscow at the end of December. Among the guests was Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s longtime press secretary.

In his speech he painted a bleak picture of the future: “Things are going to get very difficult. It will take a very, very long time.”

“He was unpleasant to listen to,” one guest told the newspaper. “It was clear that he warned that the war would be with us. We had to prepare for the long haul.”

In his speech, Vladimir Putin described the war in Ukraine as an existential struggle for Russia’s survival. “For us this is not a geopolitical mission,” the Kremlin leader told workers at an aircraft factory in the Buryatia region. “But the task of preserving the Russian state and creating conditions for the development of the country and our children.”

According to analyst Maksim Trudoljubov, this is one of the latest texts. Putin is increasingly swearing his comrades to an “eternal war” with the West.

“Putin has practically stopped talking about specific goals in the war in Ukraine,” the expert told the British newspaper. “He had no vision of what future victory would look like. The war had no clear beginning and no foreseeable end.”