The holding of fake "referendums" in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the announcement of mobilization in the Russian Federation means that

Vladimir Putin has

staked everything on the war in Ukraine.

The German publication Der Spiegel writes about it.

These measures mark the end of the narrative that the invasion of Ukraine is not a war and that the campaign's goals can be achieved with little resources.

This also signals that Putin has cut off the way out of this "destructive adventure," the publication writes.

Putin behaves like a gambler who goes all-in just because he can no longer get out of the game.

Spiegel spoke with several Russians - both those who decided to leave the country because of the risk of conscription and those who have already received a summons.

In the speech, Putin said that the mobilization would only apply to reservists, but in reality everyone is being called up one after the other.

In addition, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation introduced a number of punishments for violations committed during mobilization and "voluntary surrender."

These actions of the authorities increase the division in Russian society, however, according to experts, the military capabilities of the Russian army will not change significantly, at least until the middle of 2023.

 In a broad sense, mobilization also violates the tacit contract between the Kremlin and the people — "you don't get into politics, and we don't get into your personal life," the publication notes.

The only question is what will win - dissatisfaction with the mobilization or fear of the authorities.

Earlier, Russian political scientist and publicist Andriy Piontkovsky said that Vladimir Putin's closest ally, Yuriy Kovalchuk, had developed a plan 

to remove the Russian leader from power.

In turn, military expert Oleksandr Musienko explained why Vladimir Putin

 is increasingly talking about the threat of the collapse of the Russian Federation.

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