Happy Russia Day, so to speak. While the Kremlin celebrates, grim figures have emerged: the total losses of the Russian army in Ukraine have surpassed one million people. This includes killed, wounded, and missing in action. Along with its people, Russia has lost its global influence, markets, a ton of military equipment, part of its nuclear triad, and a third of the Black Sea Fleet. And what has it gained in return? This question is being asked more and more, even by pro-Kremlin military bloggers, who recently published a so-called "manifesto of capitulation." In it, they sadly state that Russian allies are scattering in all directions.
Indeed, let's look at the former "friends." Kazakhstan is signing a military cooperation plan with Great Britain. Azerbaijan is resolving its issues without looking back at the CSTO. Armenia, once the main ally in the Caucasus, is effectively leaving the Russian sphere of influence. Uzbekistan simply ignores any joint military initiatives. Finland and Sweden have joined NATO, turning the Baltic Sea into an internal lake of the alliance. All of Northern Europe is restructuring its armies for joint action, and it's clear against whom. Russia has ceased to be a regional leader, and its influence is reduced to storming small Ukrainian villages.
Meanwhile, as even the closest partners are turning away from Moscow, drones continue to strike Russian military factories. Recently, the "Rezonit" plant, which produces circuit boards for Iskanders, Kalibrs, and Lancets, was hit. Before that, the Tambov gunpowder plant and the "Progress" research institute in Cheboksary were "visited." Putin's reaction to this is, as always, brilliant: he demands to immediately hide all airplanes and build new protected airfields for them. Of course, no one will build anything, but the order was given on camera. This is a kind of "paper activism"—an imitation of control over a situation that has long been lost.
Against the backdrop of all this absurdity, the congratulations from the U.S. State Department on Russia Day look particularly strange. The Americans wish the "Russian people a bright future" and talk about "constructive engagement." This is reminiscent of congratulating Germany in 1942 while it was bombing London. It seems that Washington is trying to have it both ways, separating the "bad regime" from the "good people," even though polls show that a majority of Russians support the war. Perhaps it would have been better to simply remain silent. But no. Meanwhile, Russia itself continues to amaze. A psychiatric hospital in Chelyabinsk chose a cuckoo bird ("kukukha," which is slang for going crazy) as its mascot, and a drug treatment clinic in Perm chose a squirrel ("belochka," slang for delirium tremens). It seems they are no longer hiding which way their country is headed.
