The Kremlin has realized they can’t capture Kyiv, so they’re looking for a “new ideology,” Russian media report

The Kremlin has realized that it will not be possible to capture Kyiv and that it will be difficult for Russia to survive in the face of tough Western sanctions, so they are looking for a way to explain to their citizens the "truce" with Ukraine.

Meduza reported this, citing sources close to the Russian presidential administration and the Russian government.

"By the end of March, the Russian military leadership has finally come to terms with the fact that they will not be able to capture Kyiv 'hardly shedding any blood,' i.e. with the forces that are already involved in the 'special operation,'" the statement said.

It is the failures at the front that explain the softening of Russia's position during the talks, according to five sources.

In addition, Meduza's interviewers claim that in late March, government officials showed Putin calculations on the condition of the Russian economy. According to these documents, as one source says, "the country will not be able to live normally under such sanctions."

"[In the government] there are meetings on different fields but the same content: the old stocks can last for several months.  No one understands what will happen if no sanctions are lifted. More precisely, it's clear that everything will be very bad. Infrastructure problems, problems with transport will begin," the Meduza source close to the federal cabinet of ministers lists difficulties.

Three sources close to the administration of the president of the Russian Federation at once emphasize: Putin has not yet made a final decision on what to do next.

According to one of them, the president is now "influenced by different groups and people," and he himself "would like to look at the similarity of the public debate" on the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation is now afraid that "a possible truce with Ukraine will hit Putin's rating."

"Citizens are overheated by propaganda. Suppose a decision is made to stop in Donbas. What about the Nazis? We are no longer at war with them?" says one of the political technologists who work with the Kremlin.

The newspaper writes that since mid-March, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation has been trying to find out with the help of opinion polls how Russians feel about the war.

A source of Meduza, familiar with the results of this study, notes that until recently, Putin's ratings rose during the war. But what will happen next is unclear, and whether a possible "refusal" to take Kyiv will provoke protests from the pro-government electorate as well.

According to Meduza sources, a meeting was held at the Russian Federation to discuss strategies for explaining possible peace talks with Ukraine to the Russians. However, "no effective explanation strategies have been found."

"So much coal was thrown into the furnace of the locomotive, it will not be possible to stop it at once," said one of the political technologists at the meeting, Meduza reports.

This was stated by three sources close to the administration of the President of the Russian Federation, and two interlocutors close to the government.

According to Meduza sources, in the first days of the invasion, both the Russian military and President Vladimir Putin himself believed that the war would be fairly easy, and did not expect such resistance from the Ukrainian side.

Back in late February, Meduza's interlocutor close to the president's administration was convinced that one of the main problems for Russia would not be the capture of large cities, but the organization of the normal operation of their "new administrations." He had little doubt that these territories, in particular Kyiv, would be conquered.

However, in early March, the rhetoric of Meduza's sources in power began to change. At present, they consider the most probable scenario for Russia to take full control of Donbas.

The difficulty, according to the president's administration, is that some Russian propagandists, such as Vladimir Solovyov, openly demand the continuation of the war. The rest of the propagandists do not understand how to pull the act so as not to lose face.

Two Meduza sources close to the president's administration point out that the frustration of the so-called Russian "patriotic public" can be very great: the people were shown the spoiler of the series about Kyiv being captured, and now they have some negotiations and no Kyiv."

In this regard, the domestic political bloc is preparing for the inevitable fall in power ratings after the war and the intensifying economic crisis. Especially in the largest cities, especially Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to closed polls by the AP, the war in these cities is now supported by no more than half of the population.

Amid this, according to Meduza sources, political technologists close to the government were given the task of thinking about "a new ideology for the country," about "some new national idea."

"In some form, there will still be peace, and people will ask the question: what was it for? Kyiv has not been taken, most sanctions have not been lifted, living with them is bad. Why tolerate all this? This gap will have to be filled by someone," the source said.