Kathrine Frich
Starting a giant project is always easier than finding a way out when things go wrong.
For leaders caught in prolonged conflicts, pride often blocks the only available exit doors.
But eventually, the pressure from inside the house becomes impossible to ignore.
A quiet stalemate
The Kremlin recently dismissed a written offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down for a formal summit.
Publicly, Vladimir Putin maintains a hard line. He frequently states that military action will stop “when we achieve the goals we set.”
Behind the tough talk, the reality looks quite different. After more than four years of fighting, the administration is running out of options.
Farida Rustamova, an exiled Russian political scientist, recently spoke to Le Monde about the situation. She told the French outlet that “Putin is at an impasse and is unable to win or abandon this war.”
Sending quiet signals
The ongoing conflict has stretched far beyond its original timeline. According to Ziare.com, regular citizens and wealthy elites alike are growing deeply tired of the daily disruptions.
This mounting domestic pressure is forcing the Kremlin to secretly look for an off-ramp.
Back in May, Putin floated the idea of using former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as a peace broker. He also quietly allowed a wealthy businessman, widely believed to be Roman Abramovich, to visit Kyiv for unofficial talks.
Rustamova explained that these scattered moves are deliberate signals. The Russian leader desperately wants to start a negotiation process without looking like he lost.
Fighting behind closed doors
Meanwhile, severe cracks are starting to show inside the Russian political machine.
Official polls from the state-run VCIOM institute show a sudden drop in the president’s approval ratings over the last three months.
Rustamova suspects Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of the presidential administration, might be manipulating these numbers on purpose.
Kiriyenko needs a calm public to secure a massive win for the ruling United Russia party in the September 2026 elections. He is reportedly using the bad poll numbers to push back against the Federal Security Service.
The digital crackdown
The powerful intelligence agency prefers total control. Agents continue to push for strict internet blackouts to force stability across the country.
The competing factions eventually reached a fragile compromise to keep the peace.
Putin recently ordered the security service to keep access open to specific approved websites during national network shutdowns. Even so, the agency still holds legal power to cut off all online communications immediately.
Sources: Le Monde, Ziare.com
