Everyday Life In A Psychiatric Hospital

• Anastasia Burakova
• 15.11.2026, 10:06

Putin's twisted imagination is stuck in the mid-20th century.

I really don’t understand the serious discussions surrounding the Russian Federation delegation’s new demands at the Abu Dhabi talks, or the analysis and examination of those demands.

Withdraw NATO troops and structures from Eastern Europe, returning to the situation as of 1997 (that is, from Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, the Baltic states, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria), and Finland’s withdrawal from NATO (which had no intention of joining until the Kremlin unleashed the war in Ukraine). Also included here: stripping Ukraine of a proper armed forces, relinquishing part of its territory, and the partition of Moldova.

It’s reminiscent of daily life in a psychiatric hospital ward where Napoleons and Nicholas IIs with delusions of grandeur are confined. Russia may still have enough resilience to continue its assault on Malaya Tokmachka and pay thugs on the dark web to organize sabotage operations in the EU, and to propagandists for information campaigns, but it certainly lacks the scale needed to carve up spheres of influence—which, apparently, are the product of Putin’s warped imagination, stuck in the mid-20th century.

It is obvious that these demands are unrealistic and unachievable, and are being made solely to elicit a refusal, so that they can throw up their hands and say: “See, they’re threatening us with their very existence; they won’t agree, so we’ll destroy and isolate the country to the very end by any means necessary. Let’s tighten our belts and get comfortable.” At the same time, the Kremlin interprets any signed agreements however it pleases and invents its own excuses to avoid fulfilling them.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from these “proposals” is that the Kremlin has no plans for peace in Europe. Warfare in various forms—conventional, hybrid, and involving military provocations—will continue as long as Putin remains in power.

Anastasia Burakova, lawyer, founder of the “Kovcheg” project, “Telegram”