the water in Ukraine is Raging on for

close to seven months now given the

recent Battlefield gains by Ukraine the

Russian troops on the ground are

reportedly retreating

now the pressing question of the moment

is what would be the Russian President

Vladimir Putin's next move

in recent weeks it was widely reported

that Ukraine has made significant

regains in its Northeast it was also

reported that the Russian forces

retreated from several key areas

when the questions of the Russian

Retreat reached Vladimir Putin this is

what he said

the plan of Russia's special military

operation is not subject to change the

general staff makes operational

decisions in the course of the operation

something is considered the key the main

goal and the main goal is the liberation

of the entire territory of donbass this

work continues despite attempts by the

Ukrainian Army to counter offensive our

offensive operation in the donbass

itself does not stop it is moving at a

slow pace but consistently gradually the

Russian army is occupying new and new

territories
speaking after the SEO Summit in

Uzbekistan Samar Khan Putin added that

Russian forces are not in a rush it's

also interesting that the Russian

president have sought to test Waters

with his Asian allies however he got no

tentative assurances during his meetings

at the Shanghai cooperation organization

meet which concluded on Friday both

India and China have remained guarded

while Russia and China proclaimed a No

Limits partnership Beijing has now

raised questions and concern over the

conflict Indian Prime Minister Narendra

Modi also told Putin at the same Summit

that today's era is not an era of War

foreign

meanwhile Putin's statement regarding

his plans in Ukraine immediately led to

speculation taking together the Russian

president's words and the situation on

Ground Zero Western analysts now

believing the Russian forces are setting

up a new defensive line in Ukraine's

Northeast

the British defense Ministry saying the

line is likely between the Oscar River

and swathov the UK Ministry added that

maintaining control of this zone is

crucial for Moscow that's because the

region is transited by one of the few

main resupply routes

that that Russia still controls from its

belga Road region adding that a stubborn

defense of this area was likely

earlier on Friday the U.S military

intelligence Chief said Vladimir Putin

is arriving at a decision

stopping short of speculating over what

that decision could be the pentagon's

intelligence Chief underlined that the

Russian president's next move will

largely Drive how long this conflict

lasts

and that there is also pressure from

within some of the military operations

staunches supporters are now calling on

the Kremlin to scale things up in

Ukraine Hardline chuchend leader ramzan

kaderov lambasted the mistakes of the

Russian generals he made the comments in

a voice note to his 2.4 million

followers on Instagram on a telegram a

beg your pardon the opposition though

largely weakened has doubled down on the

criticism and that's not all some local

politicians from Saint Petersburg Moscow

and other regions have even called for

the Russian leader to be sacked for the

Ukraine invasion

in fact some local Representatives have

also demanded change demanded charges of

State treason against Putin and that he

must be stripped off of Power they have

cited a series of reasons including

Russia's military losses in Ukraine and

the damage to its economy from the

Western sanctions while posing no

current threat to Putin's Groupon power

the moves marking rare expressions of

dissent by elected representatives

considering the domestic and

geopolitical compulsions the Russian

president now appears to be in a tight

spot and the big question Still Remains

What would be Putin's next move

foreign

policy analyst and Senior fellow at the

John Hopkins University thanks very much

Edward for being here uh what do you

make of the situation on the ground

excuse me also uh the setbacks the

Diplomatic setbacks that Moscow has

received at the Shanghai cooperation

organization in a way with no assurances

being given to him of support that he is

seeking at this point and uh the

reaction that overall came in from the

SEO over the Ukraine invasion

I think we'd start with that uh and I

think what you you uh point that out

quite clearly that uh this is a

political setback for Vladimir Putin

here he is in this organization that by

Design is meant to stand against the

Western powers and he comes out of it

with being reproached by both China and

India Xi Jinping reminding him that

powers uh

great Powers have responsibilities uh

clear signal uh to Vladimir Putin that

China is not happy with this there was

absence of of any support from China and

the open admonition the criticism from

Prime Minister Modi uh telling uh

Vladimir Putin that this is not an era

for war so you have China and India uh

who are both signaling their unhappiness

with uh the Russian invasion of Ukraine

and this crisis This Global crisis that

Russia has created and your viewers

should know this is solely due to

Russia's actions uh this creation of a

food crisis uh Energy prices

geopolitical instability all due to

Vladimir Putin's massive disc calculate

miscalculation and in terms of his

options of course we look at the

battlefield and then we look up more

widely at his at his other options his

first he has uh basically three Avenues

the first is to stop the bleeding that

is to stop the the halt the offensive

that the ukrainians have made and to

protect Uh Russian names for example

even in Crimea so there's signs that

Russia has deployed troops to Crimea to

protect uh territory that it seized

again illegally and annexed illegally

back in 2014. so that's the first thing

he has to uh uh do that and halt the

Advance on the battlefield and draw a

line the second is

what we already see from Russia we know

this from the tactics in the first place

there will be intensified attacks away

from the battlefield on Ukrainian

civilian infrastructure and on Ukrainian

civilians themselves and the worry for

all of us in India in the United States

around the globe for all of us is uh

those nuclear reactors including

Europe's largest nuclear power plant and

and what Russia might do there to create

again some kind of a a crisis so uh that

would be second and then third is he

wants to play for time and uh stretch

this out to the winter and hopefully in

his eyes he will hope for a cold winter

and uh increasing the pain the cost to

uh the European consumers of Russian gas

and and their political leaders so

that's those are the three uh main

elements for Vladimir Putin we know

unfortunately believe that there's not a

fourth line which would be the rational

normal line which would be looking for a

political solution a negotiated solution

but unfortunately Vladimir Putin has

backed himself into a corner he staked

his legacy and his his power his rule

over uh essentially a criminal regime in

Moscow he staked it over this uh

ill-advised and illegal invasion of

Ukraine please

right and just a few hours ago President

Biden also warning Vladimir Putin not to

use nuclear weapons don't don't is what

he said but uh since you did touch upon

that uh domestic pressure that Vladimir

Putin is facing as well the rare

expression of dissent in Moscow what do

you make of that and the statement for

example coming in uh from the chachan

leader on his Telegram

uh the the Chechen leader I I uh Carter

I've I don't uh put too much seriousness

in he's a uh a Putin uh uh proxy so uh

but but more serious is the is the

dissent and criticism within Russia

because we know uh that Vladimir Putin

being an autocrat uh is afraid of

criticism and and your viewers those

around the world watching should know

this is not a strong leader this is a

leader who's weak who's afraid of his

own people and afraid of criticism and

he completely dominates the media and

has criminalized criticism criminalized

even calling this a war and again I come

back to prime minister modi's use of the

word War very significant and somewhat

subtle but that he he uh publicly used

the word said this is not an era of war

in other words dismissing uh immediately

Vladimir Putin's fundamental claim that

this is a it isn't even a war and he

uses that term uh false term special

military operation so uh it is

significant that it with this uh a

complete uh

intimidation of the population and

criminalizing any signs of dissent that

there is some in Russia that is a a

signal and what we know from that if

there is a public side of dissent here's

what we can imagine behind the scenes we

can imagine uh Power plays by various

actors various entities uh within

various personalities uh eager to

advance themselves at the expense of

others in other words uh pointing the

finger and trying to undermine the uh

the effort and expose others to blame

hoping to advance themselves remember

it's a criminal regime it operates this

is how the whole system operates on the

your ability to steal Vladimir Putin's

giving you the ability to steal and uh

and those who are ambitious and want to

get in a position to steal more will try

to undermine their colleagues and that

does not bode well for the Russian cause

in Ukraine the illegal Russian cause in

Ukraine police

very much as always for being here

you're welcome

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