Today, Putin made a speech and in it said a war with Ukraine would be "apocalyptic". He went on to say "I believe such a scenario is unlikely and believe it will never get to that point". He pointed to the Minsk agreement as the process that will "normalize" the situation.
The sanctions have obviously had an affect on the Russian economy, and the (rare) international pressure that has been put on Putin/Russia seem to be having a positive affect. Putin isn't stupid, surely he realized that further escalating the situation in Ukraine would more than likely force the US's hand (to weaponize the Ukrainian troops), and any further escalation would seriously put Russia in jeopardy of further retaliation.
It appears that he's feeling the heat at home, and is possibly ready to back off.
In the meantime, CNN (I know, I know) reports that 81% of the Russians polled have anti-American feelings. Supposedly the highest since the cold war. Personally, I could care less, but I did find it kind of funny that the Kremlin's propaganda machine is still in working order. They (CNN) had a quote from a lady that said "They (the US) want to take half of Russia". I can't even imagine how the situation would have to be spun in order for an average citizen to believe that. Then again, the "average citizen" here isn't too smart, so it's probably not much different there.
Here's the article, if you're interested.
Originally Posted by Turd_Ferguson
