Putin’s obsession with Russia’s ‘Great Patriotic War’ could be his downfall

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in either dogged stalemate or vicious urban fighting for towns and cities in the Donbass and in the north of the country throughout winter. As the bitter Ukrainian winter thaws, the war will soon take on a more deadly momentum as the spring rains of the Rasputitsa give way to better weather for mobile units.

This week marks a year since Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The campaign has been calamitous for Russia: 86,000 soldiers have been killed and wounded. The death toll will rise in the coming weeks. Yet Putin’s regime still not only manages to keep a lid on internal dissent, but continues to enjoy a high-level of sustained support for the war.

Since winning ultimate control of the country, Putin and his coterie of advisers have reignited the state’s Cold War attitude to the West, effecting a policy of destabilisation and incremental advances to retake lost territory, such as Crimea in 2014 – and wrapped this policy in the cloak of patriotism.