Bears are causing panic in Russia: since the start of the year, there have been 42 attacks on people across 11 regions, and in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, they have killed seven people. Environmentalists are trying to understand what has driven the bears to such aggressive and unusual behaviour, but according to Radio Svoboda journalist Galina Sidorova, “these tragic incidents are an existential sign of the country’s descent into barbarism during the war: perhaps the bears were enraged at having been made the emblem of United Russia, the most notorious party in the Kremlin’s political forest, which has just broken the record for the most dishonest and illegitimate elections”.
As is often the case in the human world, unable to reach higher levels, the enraged inhabitants of the forest have vented their fury on their two-legged neighbours. As for the Kremlin’s ‘bears’ – the ‘heavenly beings’ in power – the anger and incompetence within their ranks have reached a new level: the aggression of the command structure masks the grave situation on the battlefield.
To boost morale and overcome their growing weakness, some relics of the holy victorious prince Dmitry Donskoy were even taken to the front, although according to some sources – unconfirmed by the Russian Orthodox Church – the Russian army is said to have lost them during a retreat in one sector.
The acronym Svo (initials of Spetsialnaja Voennaja Operatsija, ‘Special Military Operation’), which in Russia is still shamefully used to mask the word ‘war’, is, according to Sidorova, taking on a further, rather practical meaning: Svo as Sredstvo Vyživanija Otbitykh, ‘Means of survival for the rejected’.
The level of ‘repulsion’ – the anger of those who have been ‘rejected’ – obviously varies: some of them now sit in the State Duma, whose new composition includes 46 members and veterans of the so-called Svo, 41 of whom are from United Russia, including war criminals such as Nursultan Mussagaleev, who led the purges in the occupied territory of Bucha.
In Ukraine, he is officially suspected of kidnapping, torture and the execution of civilians. Other ‘rejects’ have taken up positions in the Kremlin, working to increase both the quality and quantity of threats to the outside world.
The threat is, in fact, the cornerstone of Putin’s government, his policies and his diplomacy, increasingly earning him the title of Groznyj, the ‘menacing one’, like the first Tsar Ivan ‘the Terrible’ (precisely Groznyj) who destroyed his empire with a senseless war in the Baltic States.
Military spending, which is set to rise by almost a third by 2027 and over the following three years, confirms preparations for a long and intense war: almost half of the budget will be allocated to the army and other security forces.
Russia will not accept any ceasefire, as it has repeatedly stated, and the latest development is the now-familiar tactic of sowing panic in the so-called ‘collective West’, such as the propaganda article published and almost immediately deleted by Ria Novosti regarding an alleged ‘Russian Security Operation’ in Lithuania.
The hallmark of Russian propaganda lies in launching trial balloons in the form of material ‘published by mistake’, followed by an explanation that ‘the leadership’ does not actually hold that view.
This tactic was first used at the start of the invasion, on 26 February 2022, when an article appeared on the state news agency’s own website, only to disappear shortly afterwards. Its author, apparently anticipating the Kremlin’s moves, declared that “Ukraine has returned to Russia” and that Vladimir Putin would take on the historic mission of definitively resolving the “Ukrainian question” and “de-Ukrainising” the country.
The nuclear threat is also being brandished with increasing frequency, not only by long-discredited ‘former’ figures such as ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, or by political scientists such as Sergey Karaganov, or propagandists such as Vladimir Solovyov and Dmitry Kiselev. Their boss in the Kremlin is also making his voice heard more and more often, with cynical provocations directed at the global community.
At the recent Valdai Forum, Putin remained true to form: he complained and issued threats at the same time. Sidorova describes this “fateful” speech – as his press office dubbed it – as “lamentably aggressive”.
To demonstrate his understanding of global trends, the tsar rambled on about the future, artificial intelligence and other technological challenges in a pathetic and cowardly manner – typical of a man who can barely use a computer mouse, yet who, without hesitation, throws thousands of his young compatriots into the fires of his war.
In the end, the full repertoire was on display: “we have been deceived”, coupled with “we did not start the war”, and after berating Ukraine for striking Russian ships, Putin quoted a saying clearly from another era, Poluči, fašist, granatu ot sovetskogo soldata, “Take a grenade from a Soviet soldier, fascist!” .
What matters, of course, is the gist of this predictable spectacle, which includes disagreement over an energy truce, the promise to finally conquer the Donbas (postponing the deadline for the sixteenth time), the intimidation tactic that no one possesses weapons like Russia’s, the thinly veiled threat that the moment when nothing can be changed any longer might arrive unexpectedly for everyone, and finally ‘Chekhov’s gun’ – which, if hung on the wall at the start of the play, is bound to go off – cited in the context of the use of nuclear weapons.
This suggests a conclusion for all of (non-)progressive humanity: in recent decades, nuclear weapons have also become a means of survival for the marginalised, transforming into a defence mechanism primarily for countries where human rights and respect for international law are non-existent. North Korea and Russia are striking examples of this.
Over the past year, Putin has made overtures towards a ‘separate peace’ with the Americans, but from the moment he realised they were prepared to negotiate with him – embodying the unforgettable ‘spirit of Anchorage’ of 15 August 2025 – he lost control.
On the one hand, he is attempting to ‘wipe the slate clean’ of all the crimes of aggression he has committed over the past five years; on the other, he is behaving as if he were determined to commit as many war atrocities as possible, if only to go down in history.
Before the eyes of the whole world, amid a mixture of astonishment and resignation, the Russian army is methodically destroying Kyiv – its infrastructure, vital facilities, logistics centres and residential buildings – with the clear intention of leaving the inhabitants without heating and water for the whole winter.
As the journalist states, the only way to deal with the Kremlin’s defeated bear is to help Ukraine protect itself from destruction. Strangling Putin with a friendly embrace has proved a failure; his aggressive behaviour only serves to confirm the futility of any negotiations with him, save to secure his capitulation.
Furthermore, the hype surrounding the Kremlin’s main ‘bear’ – just as has been the case throughout the history of attempts to engage with him since the start of the war – makes him even more dangerous to those around him and, if anything, contributes to the endless prolongation of the carnage.
All this despite the fact that the nuclear button is not solely in the Kremlin’s hands, and the West’s economic and technological potential is incomparable to that of Russia, which is isolated and severely weakened by sanctions, as well as by Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy infrastructure.
The aim of those wishing to engage with Putin should not be to sit down at the table and listen to his latest complaints interspersed with threats, but to create the conditions necessary for his capitulation, in the knowledge that the only way to deal with the Kremlin’s resentful bear is to provide concrete support to Ukraine, not merely with words or on paper, by closing the skies and protecting oneself from destruction in whatever way is deemed necessary, before the Svo of this great resentment spreads throughout Europe, Asia and around the world.
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