"Russia Finds Itself In An Interesting Situation"

• 8.11.2026, 9:24

Putin is stamping his feet.

Political commentator Ivan Yakovina described the situation Russia currently finds itself in: “The overall situation is turning out to be quite interesting. On the one hand, there are Ukrainian drones; on the other hand, the impotence of Russian air defense, which is completely unable to stop these drones, and third, the reluctance of oil refinery owners to invest any money in repairs right now. It’s worth noting the sudden cold snap, which objectively hinders repair work. Add to that the traders’ eager desire to profit from the expected price hike. All these factors, coming from different directions but working in tandem, are contributing to a critical fuel shortage as early as December of this year—meaning a serious shortage could begin in just one month.”

The journalist shared his perspective on Russia’s prospects amid the fuel shortage on the channel YouTube.

“Putin, of course, is terribly unhappy. He’s stamping his feet. He’s demanding that nothing like this be allowed to happen, because in Russia—as has been the custom since the days of Tsar Gorokh—everything must be normal by New Year’s, meaning the people must approach the New Year’s address, this televised sermon by the president, in high spirits. If things are bad by New Year’s, it undermines Putin’s very legitimacy, because he has failed in his crucial task of reassuring the people and giving them what they want. That is precisely why Putin is unhappy,” Yakovina explained.

At the same time, the political analyst emphasized: “Putin understands that things are heading toward a situation where, by New Year’s, the people will be on edge—and that’s not good—but in reality, Putin doesn’t have many tools at his disposal to radically change the situation. He could, of course, replace every single director and owner of all oil refineries and even oil companies, and station Kadyrov’s security guards or his own there, but this would most likely only have a negative impact on the quality and quantity of gasoline—and certainly certainly not for the better.”