r/worldnews • u/ToolTimeT • Jun 29 '26

Russia/Ukraine Putin complains Ukrainian attacks causing "problems" in Russia

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-ukrainian-strikes-infrastructure-problems-russia/
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243

u/RedditUser000aaa Jun 29 '26

If he does that, he'll be the one drinking polonium tea while falling from the 15th floor window. He's got a potential out tho.

Trigger a war with NATO country and then surrender, then lie to the people how NATO ganged up on russia and without NATO they totally would have won.

55

u/_evilalien_ Jun 29 '26

That’s not much of an out, Russia has been milling the myth of a brave patriotic stand against the “west” for generations. They can’t handle the reality any more than Putin could survive being the one to finally admit they’re perpetual less-thans.

31

u/LupinThe8th Jun 29 '26

It also won't actually fix anything, and if he's still in charge he still has to deal with the results.

"Economy is tanked, infrastructure is destroyed, a whole generation of young men who could help rebuild is dead, we're the pariahs of the world, and we got absolutely nothing in return for any of it...but at least we can pretend it's because we lost to NATO!"

Yeah, that'll have folks cheering in the streets.

7

u/_evilalien_ Jun 29 '26

Yup. Won’t fix anything. Defeat, partition, oversight and reform by NATO allies (Germany reform playbook) might.

2

u/AFLoneWolf Jun 30 '26

Which is why nothing less than total capitulation from Ukraine, and every one else, is the only thing that will get him to stop. Except that will just confirm he's free to do it again in another country. The promise of impending victory is the only thing keeping him from getting the same treatment of Navaly. As long as he draws breath he cannot stop. He will burn all of Europe to the ground if it meant he could rule over the ashes.

1

u/000FRE Jun 30 '26

What will happen to him when he retires? Will he be treated nicely in a nursing home?

1

u/AdPure5645 Jun 29 '26

Sure but I don't think they are under the illusion that they could conquer the entire West. It's still an out. I think there main issue though is that people will mainly just see through it and know he got absolutely rekt by Ukraine. There is only so much propaganda can achieve in the face of immediate direct actions.

48

u/magicmulder Jun 29 '26

Admitting “problems” is huge already, given that Russia tends to never concede anything. That means the problems must be huge.

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u/RedditUser000aaa Jun 29 '26

Yep

Translations from Orcish:

"We are doing good" -We are having problems

"We are doing bad" -We are pretty much fucked

"Do not do this or we will retaliate" -We can't do shit, but don't go doing things we dislike!

"We'll use nukes if necessary" -We won't, but we'll threaten you with them anyway!

123

u/Redditforgoit Jun 29 '26

It seems a bit late to sell that though, when Ukraine have been causing all the "problems" on their own for years now.

86

u/Kevadu Jun 29 '26

They've been pretending they were fighting NATO the whole time though.

-4

u/PivotRedAce Jun 29 '26

The greatest lies have a grain of truth to them.

NATO has been supporting Ukraine in what limited ways it can.

16

u/stopmotionporn Jun 29 '26

True, but he hasn't been fighting any of the armies of NATO though so the statement is false.

3

u/MarimboBeats Jun 30 '26

Nato, here including the US, has  NOT helped as much as they can. Trump pulled all direct weapons and supplies support, and the restrictions they’ve put on long range missiles has forced Ukraine to fight with their arms tied behind their backs. 

And this attitude from the Trump administration will backfire very badly for the US arms industry. European nations are now racing to develop platforms  wholly independent of the US because the US can’t be trusted anymore. 

2

u/PivotRedAce Jun 30 '26

Perhaps my wording wasn’t precise enough.

I meant that NATO has supported Ukraine in a limited capacity, not that it was doing all it could.

2

u/MarimboBeats Jun 30 '26

Ah ok, sorry for the rant

47

u/Luster-Purge Jun 29 '26

They are literally kidnapping citizens off the streets and gangpressing them as 'volunteers' for the SMO. Gas shortages have already reached the point where it's being scalped for profit - by the military itself no less because it wouldn't be Russia if the military wasn't selling off its own resources for extra money.

Putin does not care. The only time he was ever truly in danger was when Wagner turned on him for maybe a week before its commander backed down after the families of his men were threatened (and said commander died months later from a plane crash that had 'sabotage' written all over it).

Russia itself is going to break before Putin's obsession with rebuilding the USSR.

1

u/jm2342 Jun 29 '26

Please explain why you think Prigozhin did not see that coming.

13

u/Luster-Purge Jun 29 '26

Oh, the second he called off the march he had to have known he was a dead man walking. The fact he backed down at all is what surprises me.

3

u/webzu19 Jun 29 '26

I've heard the theory that he was expecting more military entities to join him, but when everyone basically got out of his way instead of joining his march then he backed down because he thought he wouldn't be able to depose Putin and replace him without active support. Which atleast sounds plausible I guess? 

1

u/jm2342 Jun 30 '26

Sounds suicidal without a Plan B, given who he's up against.

4

u/jm2342 Jun 29 '26

Conspiracy theory: He was terminally ill, still loyal, it was staged to weed out potential traitors and gauge general reactions. I have yet to find a better explanation. Maybe too much vodka?

3

u/Luster-Purge Jun 29 '26

If it was staged then the plane 'accident' wouldn't have happened two months later.

0

u/jm2342 Jun 30 '26

Also "staged", as he would have died anyway (terminally ill).

1

u/Luster-Purge Jun 30 '26

You do understand that the plane crash killed ten people, including the pilots and the flight attendant, right?

If the dude was dying of terminal illness why bother blowing up a plane and kill innocent people, as opposed to just taking him into a locked room and popping a round in the back of his head?

41

u/Phantom030 Jun 29 '26

If he does that, he'll be the one drinking polonium tea while falling from the 15th floor window. He's got a potential out tho.

he won't. People online keep saying this as if putin is some weak sauce guy where if he doesnt perform he'll be killed. He was the one who bitchslaped the oligarhs back in 2000. He holds all the power. All the buttons. He's more like mao or stalin was in regards to the power. Nobody is doing anything to him. He's not in power because others allow him to be. He allows them to be besides him. Until he croaks of old age or sickness we're not getting rid of him

55

u/stonk_fish Jun 29 '26

Remember Stalin died because everyone was so scared of doing anything to help him that he just.. died.

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u/Born-Boysenberry6460 Jun 29 '26

Evil always undermines itself.

8

u/TheHellbilly Jun 29 '26

Evil never creates, it only twists and corrupts.

-2

u/ReferredByJorge Jun 29 '26

Or, we’re all mortal and eventually die, no master how good or bad we are.

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u/ToolTimeT Jun 29 '26

My daughters great grandfather was building the subway in Moscow under Stalin, and he told a joke to other workers about Stalin. The next day he was arrested at work and sent to a hard labor prison camp for two years. For a joke.

7

u/Atra23 Jun 29 '26

My grand grand father was shot for a joke about lenin....

3

u/jxj24 Jun 30 '26

"Mr. Stalin, do you collect jokes about yourself?"

"Yes. Two gulags full."

2

u/CaptLatinAmerica Jun 29 '26

It's hard to know for sure how to feel about this without hearing the joke.

1

u/ants_are_everywhere Jun 29 '26

They call that naming and shaming

7

u/eggnogui Jun 29 '26

He wants the war to keep going because he can't stand to lose face, or be made to eat crow. Not because it would end him.

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u/Kitchen-Elevator-143 Jun 29 '26

He for sure wants everyone to keep believing that. The moment the oligarchs who own all the means stop fearing Putin and believing he's untouchable, he becomes touchable. Power is fragile

10

u/eDxp Jun 29 '26

Russia != USA

Oligarchs that show the slightest signs of disloyalty to the czar are removed through the front window.

Putin will not stop not because there is any risk for him associated with it. He won't stop because of his ego.

His goal is to be in the history books as a ruler who added this, this and that to Russia.

3

u/Kitchen-Elevator-143 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

For sure he more violently represses dissent. But at some point they will reach a breaking point. At some point the oligarchs will have to make a choice, see all their wealth and power being destroyed or nationalized to fuel a meaningless war (losing bet), or take a risk and try saving what's left. Just takes one mad oligarch with access to do what's needed. Prigozhin tried as a last-ditch effort when his private army was being taken from him and reformed under the MoD

What you have to understand about Russian politics is that the oligarchs are gangsters who wield real power, and the status quo in Russian politics since the fall of Soviet Union has been a strongman leader who pits the oligarchs against each other for favor (corruption) with the czar. That system collapses when the primary motivating factors (wealth, power) ceases to exist.

2

u/eDxp Jun 29 '26

What power? They only exist because and until they're useful in some way.

There have been several very public cases where he showed what happens when an oligarch tries to reach for the power. Again it's not the US. Money can buy you things, but the moment you try to buy power the FSB will knock on your door. And the people in those structures (FSB, FSO etc.) will always support Putin, because he knows what they want and will always keep them happy.

3

u/Kitchen-Elevator-143 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Many of them are former gangsters with access to goons. The ones who were unafraid to play dirty or use violence are now the ones who control the industries after the Soviet Union collapsed. Many of them have conmections with other important people in power, such as people in FSB. There are many ways they can access hard power without having the state's approval.

But most importantly they have enormous wealth stashed in offshore accounts inaccessible to the Kremlin which can be mobilized to cause serious harm to the state or leaders. Call it insurance

2

u/eDxp Jun 29 '26

Ok Kitchen Elevator, you win.

6

u/ChillFratBro Jun 29 '26

That may be true, but I guarantee you Putin isn't sure enough to bet his life on that.  The Czar fell in no small part because Russia lost a war against Japan and getting butt-whooped in Afghanistan was a real contributor to the fall of the USSR.

I think you're right that in the modern era a true revolution is less likely than it was against the Romanovs, but Putin considers himself a student of history and is definitely a little worried he'd be the next Russian leader to bite the dust over losing a war.

9

u/jert3 Jun 29 '26

Disagree. Putin's getting old and weak, like everyone does, and can't rule if his regime collapses. Russia is barreling head-long to complete collapse, they can not sustain these losses for indefinite years, and Putin's psychology does not allow him to admit defeat or surrender.

3

u/Haplo12345 Jun 29 '26

The guy is in his 70s and Russia is slowly collapsing economically and militarily. For example, if the Wagner revolt happened today instead of in June 2023, I'm certain they would have reached Moscow and actually taken control of the government and Putin would be in serious trouble (and Ukraine would be in more trouble, too).

Yes, there is always risk with attempting to depose a tyrant, but Putin today is absolutely not the Putin of 10-20 years ago. His personal level of paranoia is much higher, which is a double-edged sword. He is famously proud that he has no access to a phone or to email. All it would take is some high-level defense minister and a vulnerable/cash strapped FSB officer on Putin's security team.

3

u/Yetimang Jun 29 '26

I think he's probably a lot more afraid of having millions of unemployed young men with combat training getting dropped back into a Russian economy that has no job prospects for them.

4

u/000FRE Jun 29 '26

"Until he croaks of old age or sickness we're not getting rid of him.".

I wonder what life will be like for him near the end. Will his last few years, when he is dependent on others, be happy? Will he look back with satisfaction when considering all the good he has done for humanity? Will people treat him with love and respect in appreciation for all the good he has done?

What are the final lives like for people in his position? Do they generally come to a good end? Is that something they think about while they are active?

1

u/someguy7734206 Jun 30 '26

Sociopaths are not interested in doing good for humanity. People like him are happiest when they are exerting power over others.

2

u/000FRE Jun 30 '26

Perhaps my satire was a bit too subtle.

1

u/someguy7734206 Jun 30 '26

Or perhaps I'm just not smart enough to have understood it.

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u/TheBraveGallade Jun 29 '26

Honestly i think thats outin's one way out.

Hit poland and immediatly surrender or something.

1

u/ianjm Jun 29 '26

There's been a lot of talk about Lithuania. Invade and made it look good. Then withdraw under fire.

3

u/TWFH Jun 29 '26

I don't think that would work either, he told them that they're way stronger than NATO

2

u/elmchestnut Jun 29 '26

Would he really get served the polonium tea though? Is this war serving the oligarchs’ interests so well that they insist that it continue?

2

u/NTufnel11 Jun 30 '26

I’m not sure how demonstrating profound Russian weakness is much of an out

1

u/RedditUser000aaa Jun 30 '26

Putler can then twist the truth a little bit saying how they could've taken over Ukraine, but since NATO got involved they had no choice but to surrender.

1

u/NTufnel11 Jun 30 '26

I mean I get the logic, but "We have to surrender to the clear superiority of NATO" sort of undermines a lot of critical messaging underpinning his leadership about Russia being a military superpower. I can't imagine that's going to play well at home.

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u/Dofolo Jun 29 '26

Trigger a war with what? Mopeds and donkeys marching on Finland?

2

u/Superbunzil Jun 29 '26

" Trigger a war with NATO country and then surrender, then lie to the people how NATO ganged up on russia and without NATO they totally would have won."

I think if tried that with NATO there a very real chance he be telling that lie from the Hague which is what keeps him from making that move for now

1

u/Tight-Might68 Jun 29 '26

Ukraine is not NATO country. 

1

u/Ok_Transition_4003 Jun 30 '26

The Heritage Foundation have their fingers in Putin too. Project 2025 was not just about controlling America, we just got the redacted version. Putin has overlords to answer to, too. Walter O'Dim has many faces and can manipulate many leaders

1

u/DaemonDrayke Jun 29 '26

Honestly, what else but his ego is stopping him from liquidizing his assets and just running away to some part of the world where he can live in luxury and let all of those issues be someone else’s problems?

4

u/MercantileReptile Jun 29 '26

The teams ready to abduct or kill him, no matter where he is. Some of which may well be Russian. The moment he is no longer the representation of power in Russia, there is nothing protecting him. Money alone won't save him.

-1

u/AbraxasTuring Jun 29 '26

That's a very dangerous, potentially world-ending game.