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(Lack of) victory on day three of the invasion
It may well be that the policy-makers in the Kremlin actually believe the narrative of Russia’s inevitable victory that their own propagandists have developed. How else could one explain the arrogant tone struck by the Kremlin’s disinformation superspreader-cum-news agency, state-run RIA Novosti, publicly celebrating victory on day three(opens in a new tab) of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
Or, just as likely, this was already an early indication of the Kremlin’s inability to imagine its own limits, thinking that no matter the circumstances, a total Russian victory is absolutely inevitable. In fact, it was a gloomy echo of Stalin’s speech on 6 November 1941, espousing the idea of exceptionalism with the words ‘Our cause is just – victory will be ours’.
