St. Petersburg seems to be the epicenter of the anti-war protests. Russian strong man Putin to be removed by his own billionaire-inner-circle, in deal with U.S. to unfreeze their assets.
I expect that Putin will simply have the protestors rounded up and we will not hear much more from them. We will see how things turn out. A few hundred or a few thousand protestors in a number of cities is nearly meaningless in the overall context of the size & population of Russia -- and the ability of the Russian government to simply round these protestors up and imprison them for a long time to silence them.
Putin's not going anywhere. He knows what billionaires will target him and I bet he already has contingencies in place.
Ahh geez, this happened... https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-chernobyl-site-control Radiation involved with a madman invader? Never good for anyone.
Ukraine has valuable natural resources now Putin has them. Common folk are left to fend for themselves. With a friend like Biden who needs enemies. Missile attack video is fake, the one that shows a child scream.
Even if that were true, to be replaced by whom? The Russian Duma basically voted "go for it", re: Ukraine invasion. Until and unless Russia becomes a real democracy, I don't think you will see much change (politically at least). Really and truly, I wish their leaders would just follow their constitution. http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm
The Russian anti-war activists are being locked up -- one by one. At this point they are arrested thousands apparently. Russia detains opposition activist who called for anti-war protests in Moscow https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...o-called-anti-war-protests-moscow-2022-02-24/
Many Russians aren't buying the war Putin is selling https://www.axios.com/russian-publi...ion-020646b0-0153-4f8f-8086-542698dec67d.html Vladimir Putin has launched an unprovoked ground war in a neighboring country after only the most perfunctory attempt to convince his own people, and with no groundswell of support behind him. Why it matters: That’s a dangerous proposition for any leader, even an autocrat as entrenched as Putin. But while some experts believe high casualties or sanctions-induced economic distress could destabilize Putin’s regime, others contend that a quick victory would solidify his historic legacy in many Russians’ eyes. Driving the news: Hundreds of protesters marched through central Moscow Thursday night chanting "no to war," while hundreds more gathered in St. Petersburg, all despite an explicit threat of arrest from the Interior Ministry. Meanwhile, several celebrities, journalists and other public figures publicly criticized the invasion. That stands in stark contrast to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, when the government actively mobilized mass shows of support for a highly popular operation. This time around, there was "no big demand" for war, and Putin — with his eyes apparently fixed on history rather than public opinion — hardly tried to generate one, says Alexander Baunov of Carnegie Moscow. Rather than patriotic fervor, Baunov sensed the slight "embarrassment" of Muscovites on Thursday morning as they withdrew cash from ATMs in case Russia is cut off from the global financial system. Breaking it down: Most Russians were not expecting war on any scale, let alone a full-scale invasion, but a majority also accepts Putin's argument that the West has created the crisis, says Denis Volkov, director of Russia's last independent pollster, the Levada Center. Just 7% blamed the tensions over Ukraine on the Russian government according to one recent poll, Volkov says. The belief in Western culpability among most Russians "will not be shaken," he adds. Perceptions of Ukraine were also trending downward before the invasion, in a sign that the relentless coverage on state TV had an effect even as it generated a great deal of fatigue, Volkov says. Now public opinion is in flux. "It will depend on how long it will be, how bloody it will be, what the response of the West will be," and whether there is some form of protest movement, he says. What to watch: Most of the groups that have rallied past protests have been systematically dismantled over the past few years, most notably Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. During court proceedings Thursday that could add 15 years to his prison sentence, Navalny accused Putin of launching the war "to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention" from internal problems. Vladimir Ashurkov, the now-exiled executive director of Navalny's foundation, told reporters over dinner in Washington on Tuesday that the timing of the trial was no accident. "Unfortunately, this Ukrainian shitstorm is putting it into the shadows," he said. Ashurkov conceded that if Russia effectively absorbs Ukraine with minimal casualties and economic fallout, it could bolster Putin internally. Many in the business and governing elite have grown very concerned by Putin's maneuvers, he added, but Putin has shown little interest in any opinion but his own. The bottom line: "Putin is starting to get more isolated from modernity, from the present time, and thinking of himself as a historic figure, making not politics but history," Baunov says. He is indeed making history, but the domestic fallout could yet pull him back into the present.