OUR Russian elite he does not hide that he is “tired” of the president’s war Putin in Ukraine. Even the most optimistic have doubts. In particular, it is said that those who supported the invasion were disappointed because the war was supposed to end in a few days, but now it is the 16th month.

“While no one wants to talk to the Russian president about an invasion, it appears that absolute faith in his leadership has been shaken,” sources told Bloomberg. However, Putin is determined not only to continue the invasion, but also to go to the end.

“A dead end: they are afraid of being scapegoats,” said Kirill Rogov, a former Russian government adviser who fled the country after the invasion of Ukraine and now heads Re:Russia, a Vienna-based think tank. “It’s amazing that they are widely discussing the possibility that Putin won’t win this war.”

At the same time, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner’s mercenarism, continues to attack the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, tweeted: “Unless the Kremlin responds to Prigozhin’s escalation of attacks, it could further undermine the (Kremlin) rule that some actors can compete for ascension and influence. but no one can criticize Putin directly.”

“This cannot be in the Putin system,” wrote Sergei Radchenko, a Cold War historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in a recent tweet. “Putin’s system allows pawns and officers to attack each other, but never undermines the king.”

“Too many and big mistakes have been made,” said Sergei Markov, who has close ties to the Kremlin. “There were expectations that Russia would take control of most of Ukraine, but they did not materialize.” Putin and his senior officials insist that Russia will win, even if it is not clear what victory means, since the military failed to take Kyiv at the start of the war.

So far, polls show that a majority of Russian citizens support Putin, who insists he is protecting his country’s interests and claiming historical territory by annexing parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

With no end in sight to the war and sanctions remaining, Russian billionaires know they depend on the Kremlin as Putin seeks more and more support for his war effort.

They and their families have been hit by asset freezes and travel bans under U.S. and European sanctions that have upended decades of integration into global markets.

“They have adapted to the situation, but there is no light at the end of the tunnel – they are pessimistic about the future,” said Alexandra Prokopenko, a former journalist and central bank adviser and now a researcher at the Carnegie Berlin Russia Eurasia Center. “The best they can hope for is that Russia will lose without humiliation.”