As someone who lived in Russia during its 'golden' boom years of the early 2000s, and seeing what it's become, I hate people who simp for Putin, like he's some genius 4d chess player.
He's not, he has destroyed Russia's potential and future and perverted a fledgling democracy into an authoritarian regime with toilet paper for a constitution.
Moscow is a fun city to party in, but that doesn't mean that child services won't take a child into foster care for drawing a Ukrainian picture in school (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65200649).
Russia could be so much better, freer, and more prosperous; it's not even funny.
Instead, the FSB spends its time justifying bigger and bigger budgets, trying to entrap gay people, while failing to prevent real terrorist attacks.
Putin's war in Ukraine is his biggest failure; he's failed every objective he had, Kiev in 3 days, pushing back NATO etc.
But let's look a more holistic look of failures that are, basically, all the result of Putin and the rotten, disgusting system he has built:
• Built a corrupt authoritarian system instead of modernizing the economy — elites enrich themselves; no real investment in technology or sustainable growth.
• Economy stuck on “oil dollars” and failed to diversify — squandered the commodity windfall rather than building a stable basis for the future.
• Stagnating and then falling living standards — real incomes stalled after the 2000s and declined from 2014 onward; sanctions and war kick-started stagflation. I left in 2014 and it was peak, then Putin decided to annex Crimea.
• Switched economy to “military rails” — vast resources diverted to war; civil sector effectively in recession. The liquid part of the sovereign wealth fund has been decimated.
• Industrial and technological decline from sanctions and lost access to components — auto, aviation, and many sectors crippled by lack of Western tech and parts.
• Flood of low-quality ‘parallel imports’ and counterfeit goods — consumer choice worsened and prices rose. This nonsense also goes back to Crimea sanctions and Russia bulldozing foreign cheese into landfills.
• Thanks to the war, triggered mass emigration of educated citizens (500k–1.3M in the first year of the war, according to various estimates; birth rates plunged)
• Repression and dismantling of institutions — destroyed independent media, hollowed out elections, jailed/exiled/killed opposition and critics (Navalny only the most recent). Basically, built a regime that silences opponents by exile, jail, or assassination
• Normalization of militarism and xenophobia at home — building a Putin youth and trying to brainwash children into wanting to die for the motherland, aka die for Putin while he lives it up in his palaces.
• Allowed regional “kingdoms” and kleptocratic fiefdoms to grow (Chechnya/Kadyrov) — huge federal funds siphoned off; central authority undermined by local warlords.
• Catastrophic war planning and execution in Ukraine — the 2022 invasion failed to achieve its objectives, the blitzkrieg collapsed, logistics/tactics/command proved abysmal.
• Huge military losses and equipment losses —massive casualties and destroyed equipment (losses allegedly exceed 1 million casualties when counting wounded/MIA). Woest disaster since ww2, much worse than the Afghan debacles.
• Failure to “demilitarize” Ukraine — instead, Ukraine militarized and united — invasion produced a resolute, Western-armed Ukrainian army instead of capitulation. NATO also expanded.
• Loss of Ukraine as a partner & permanent estrangement from Moscow.
• Destroyed relations with Europe and the West; lost the EU gas market — Gas market share plummeted
• International isolation and sanctions — Russia became a pariah, investment dried up, Western tech and capital left.
• Turned from independent power to subordinate dependency on China — economic dependence on China, forced discounts on energy, and growing Chinese influence. Basically, it became a Chinese vassal state
• Failed “influence” in post-Soviet space — Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and others drift away; Russia lost its role as regional balancer (Karabakh example).
• Syria intervention ultimately yielded no lasting strategic gains — Assad gone, Syria fell, and Russia is excluded from reconstruction and influence.
Personally, I cannot wait for Vladimir Putin to die already. Sadly, after what he has done to all Russian institutions, whoever comes next can be just as bad. There are so many ways the state can persecute a person now that it doesn't leave me hopeful.
Then the smooth brains will say 'it wasn't like this under Putin,' failing to realise that Putin's 25+ year erosion of all institutions is what caused all the mess in the first place.