Kremlin prepares Russians for long war with Ukraine and West - UK intelligence
The Kremlin has found an excuse for the inability to win the war (Getty Images)
The Kremlin is justifying the prolonged war with Ukraine by claiming they are supposedly fighting against the West. Residents of Russia are being prepared for a decrease in their standard of living, according to the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom.
On February 14, the official spokesperson for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists that although the "special military operation began as an operation against Ukraine, over time it has taken on the form of a war against the collective West, a war when the countries of the collective West, led by the United States, are directly involved in this conflict."
According to British intelligence, this aligns with the trend in Russian official rhetoric, which seeks to justify the duration of the war and the scale of Russian losses by portraying it as a direct conflict with the West.
Peskov further acknowledged that the 'special operation' "may last a bit longer, but this can't change the course of things."
"This forms part of the Russian official narrative almost certainly aimed at situating the domestic population for a long-term conflict and the associated decline in domestic living standards, while providing reassurance of ultimate Russian victory," the Ministry of Defense of Britain writes.
Support for the war among residents of Russia
According to the Levada Center, support among residents of Russia for the war has remained consistently high since February 2022. In January 2024, the majority of respondents (77%) support the war against Ukraine, while 16% do not support it.
Residents of Russia also maintain confidence that the conflict with Ukraine will last long. Thus, almost half of the respondents (45%) believe that military actions will last more than a year, while another 23% believe it will last from six months to a year.
The majority of respondents (77%) believe that the war against Ukraine will end in Russia's victory, which is 6 percentage points higher than a year ago, and roughly corresponds to the results of May 2022.
