The sentiment in Washington before the Moscow attack was that Russians needed to experience firsthand the impact of the war in Ukraine. This attitude intensified as US sanctions proved ineffective, Russian advancements in Ukraine quickened, and President Putin received a high level of support from the Russian population during recent elections.
Previous attempts to make Russians understand the war’s effects included drone strikes on major city centers, attacks on infrastructure, and efforts to destabilize Russia’s economy.
Let’s not be naive here. Putin and friends want to kill, maim, and torture their way around the globe until the only language left spoken on this rock is Russian. Putin wants to ‘reunite’ the former Soviet countries once again, and continue ‘uniting’ city by city, country by country.
Putin pinky promised no more after Crimea in 2014.
FF to 2022 - 3 day ‘special military operation’ to rid the ‘Nazis of Azov’ - he expected Zelenski, an actor/comedian who played the piano with his dick on TV, to immediately fold under the pressure and accept conditions of surrender.
That didn’t happen, largely due to the backing of the west, who is not naive, and who knows a thing or two about conquering. Mainly, that conquerors don’t stop until they’re met with enough force.