How Putin's war reached Moscow's petrol pumps
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What is the current situation in Moscow regarding the war?
Hi, I'm Patricia Carvellis, the host of the Politics Now podcast. And navigating what our rapidly changing world means can be tricky...
There's an argument that there's still a lot of uncertainty, isn't there, around the drivers of the global energy market.
That's why I'm joined by the sharpest political minds at the ABC to break down what each development means for Australia and how the government is positioning.
The Prime Minister's keeping his options open. He can increase that reduction or he can take it away altogether and go back to the system where it was before the war started.
That's Politics Now with me, Patricia Carvellis. Find it on ABC Listen.
Vladimir Putin is under pressure. His war is running off course, with the capital Moscow now under sustained attack for the first time since the conflict began.
How are Ukrainian drone strikes affecting fuel supplies in Russia?
Ukrainian drone strikes are leading to major fuel shortages and growing discontent among the Russian people. Today, Simon Schuster, a staff writer at The Atlantic magazine, on the growing pressure on Putin to end the war. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily.
Simon, why don't we start with what the residents of Moscow are experiencing right now? Because really for the first time, Since the Ukraine war began, they're facing sustained attacks, aren't they?
Yeah, the technological advances on the Ukrainian side in terms of their drone and missile program has really allowed the Ukrainians to bring the war home to the Russian public in a way that we've never seen. So the Ukrainians have had a very sustained campaign over several months now targeting Ukraine. Russian energy infrastructure, oil refineries and logistics.
What are the experiences of Moscow residents during the attacks?
And that's led to very serious fuel shortages around the country.
Yeah, and there are these images out of Moscow with the skies filled with black smoke of these really long queues at petrol stations.
I guess I'm going to have to leave my car right here. I've been standing for an hour and a half now. The situation is not good and this is very annoying. There's a kilometre-long queue. They're holding back and trying to show that there is gasoline, but it's not there.
I mean, the war really is on the doorstep of the Russian capital now, like it never has been before.
Yeah, I mean, I think at this point we have to remember that the casualty numbers on the Russian side are so high, more than a million dead and wounded over the course of the last four years, that most Russian families, it's safe to say, have someone close to them who has been directly affected by the war. So it's not like the Russian public has been insulated completely.
How is public opinion shifting in Russia about the war?
But I think these fuel shortages... are just a daily reminder nuisance that this thing is creeping closer, the war is creeping closer and deeper into their daily lives. And of course, that leads to much more frustration with the war, with the Russian leadership, with how long the war has gone on, how costly it's become for Russia. And we see that showing up also in opinion polls about the war and about Vladimir Putin.
So clearly, Vladimir Putin is under increasing pressure. And you note, Simon, that when things get dicey in Moscow, Vladimir Putin tends to disappear for a while. What do you mean?
Yeah, I mean, this has been a trend. You know, I've been reporting on Putin for the better part of 20 years now. And this has been pretty consistent with him when there's a national crisis, when there's some kind of leadership struggle inside the Kremlin.
What strategies is Vladimir Putin employing in response to the crisis?
He often just sort of disappears. ducks out and waits for things to calm down before re-emerging and making a statement. We've seen this with the Ukrainian drone attacks in the last few months. He's avoided the subject pretty consistently. He's not talked about it, even as it has flooded Russian social media and everyone has felt the fuel shortages in Russia. Putin has avoided talking about it until about a week ago. He finally gave a pretty detailed statement in a very scripted state television interview. where he was very dismissive, actually, of the frustrations of the Russian people and spent most of that interview talking about these plodding, slow gains that Russia continues to make at enormous cost in human lives in eastern Ukraine.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current situation in Moscow regarding the war?
0:00–1:10
2
How are Ukrainian drone strikes affecting fuel supplies in Russia?
1:10–2:19
3
What are the experiences of Moscow residents during the attacks?
2:19–3:19
4
How is public opinion shifting in Russia about the war?
3:19–4:10
5
What strategies is Vladimir Putin employing in response to the crisis?
4:10–5:12
6
What does Putin's recent behavior indicate about his leadership?
5:12–6:16
7
How are social media and public sentiment impacting the Russian narrative?
6:16–7:30
8
What are the implications of the war for Putin's future and Russia's stability?
7:30–16:07