By the spring, Russian troops will have suffered another defeat, but by then, the situation will worsen for Russia.
The Kremlin leadership is aware of the defeat in the war and is trying to bargain for its price.
Aleksey Arestovich, the adviser to the President's Office, said on air with Russian opposition leader Mark Feigin that the Russian Federation hopes to make some kind of territorial concessions.
“Now is the phase when Putin and Lavrov are bargaining for the price of defeat. They understand that they have lost, but they want to bring it down … The most ardent romantics have a hope for victory - to keep Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, and, perhaps, partly Zaporizhzhia. And the most sober ones… They are already bargaining for the price of defeat. Remove sanctions, personal immunity, at least some territorial concessions, at least something," Arestovich explained.
According to him, by the spring, Russian troops will have another defeat, but the situation will worsen for Russia by then.
Right now, this attempt to use the restored Russian units will fail. January-February, Iranian weapons will restore them, attempts to squander our energy system so that we surrender together … They will fail by February-March. During this time, the situation will significantly deteriorate economically, with political isolation, oil sanctions. Then they will already be bargaining for the price of surrender," the adviser added.
According to Arestovich, this could gradually lead to a discussion of unconditional surrender in Crimea.
"The approach of the Ukrainian armed forces to the gates of Crimea means the demolished Crimean bridge, which cannot be operated. The supply will go through the ships. But this means that Ukrainian missiles will reach any ship or aircraft that tries to get there," the expert noted.
