Andrei Klepach, chief economist at VEB RF (previously known as Vnesheconombank, Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs), a major Russian state-owned bank, has said that Russia will not be able to win a war of attrition against Ukraine backed by the West and is inevitably heading towards a major social crisis.
It is, and it probably means they’ll continue their foreign influence operations, even at the expense of money they needed for military operations. Expect a fresh wave of right wing authoritarian politicians to pop up all over the world. It also increases the odds they will do something stupid and dangerous to shake things up.
I think the RoI on the goodwill tours in the West is pretty high