ANDREI KUZITŠKIN ⟩ Putin has essentially brought Russia to the brink of civil war

2026-03-26 - 17:52

Russia bade farewell to democracy and freedom long ago. With every year of Vladimir Putin’s rule, the arsenal of tools for state control is expanding, and the intensity of their use has effectively brought the country to the brink of civil war. The ruling Kremlin elite is producing an ideology of national exceptionalism and an existential struggle with the West, which is being forcibly imposed on the majority of Russia’s population, writes columnist and Russia expert Andrei Kuzichkin.