Russian President Vladimir Putin (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolskyi)
Inaction In Ukraine Threatens Putin’s Image At Home -- Washington Times
Russian leader is seen as weak.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failure to come to the rescue of beleaguered pro-Moscow rebels in east Ukraine threatens to both shatter his image as a strongman leader and foment dangerous domestic discontent among nationalist groups, his supporters have warned.
“We support Putin because he is strong,” Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist thinker whose ideas are reported to have influenced recent Kremlin policy, told The Washington Times. “But many people feel cheated by his refusal to use military force [in east Ukraine]. Russian patriots are close to turning away from Putin.”
The comments came as Ukrainian forces recaptured the key city of Slavyansk over the weekend, forcing separatist fighters to make what they described as a “tactical retreat” to the regional capital of Donetsk — setting up a showdown between rebels and government forces.
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My Comment: He is not weak. His concern (and priority) is the Russian economy .... this has always been his Achilles heel and he knows it. As I have mentioned on more than one occasion .... he will do a full scale intervention in Ukraine if .... and only if .... it becomes a complete disaster (i.e. thousands killed, hundreds of thousands fleeing, and ethnic cleansing). But until then .... he will continue to support the rebels in Ukraine (but at a minimal level) and he will continue to put economic pressure on Kiev that will make life progressively difficult for most Ukrainians. In short .... he may lose some Russian nationalist support, but he will still win in the end because eventually he knows that because of economics Ukraine will have to bend to his wishes.
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