Russian weakness

Images of beheadings of Ukrainian soldiers recently posted on social media put Russian troops and mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group, recruited from jailed criminals, on the same level as terrorists from the self-styled Islamic State.

These events add to the intensification of repression against Russian dissidents who dare to speak out, such as Alexei Navalni, imprisoned for more than two years, or Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has bravely challenged the court that threatens him with 25 years jail for disseminating information about the war.

To this we must add the arrest of The Wall Street Journal correspondent, Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage.

This grim news coincides with the largest leak of secret US espionage documents in the last decade, revealing US and NATO plans for war, weaknesses in Ukraine's air defenses and even future calculations. that include a Ukrainian attack on the Kremlin or a Russian tactical nuclear response.

Although almost everything about who is responsible for the leak is still unknown, this information raises fears of negative consequences for kyiv's military plans and also affects numerous allied countries.

Still, concerns for Putin continue to mount.

The balance of his winter campaign—both the strictly military one and the energy strangulation of Ukraine—is disastrous.

The Russian troops have not succeeded in seizing Bakhmut or advancing on the front,

so that now everything is entrusted to a reinforcement of the defenses that will allow us to withstand the announced Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The fissures in the Russian home front are notable, as shown by a bomb attack in St. Petersburg that killed a prominent Russian military blogger.

Also the incorporation of Finland to NATO is a double setback;

On the one hand, it forces Russia to dedicate new military efforts to the added 1,300 kilometers of the border with the Alliance, and, on the other hand, it constitutes a defeat for those who launched their country into war on the grounds that it was drive US allies away from its territory.

In the face of each setback, the Kremlin unleashes its usual threats, as has happened with the announcement of the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, with the additional effect of demonstrating Minsk's increasing submission to Moscow's will.