Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing increasing animosity both abroad and at home as the second month of his unprovoked war in Ukraine comes to a close.
Russia's future looks bleak due to ongoing strategy failures, mounting military losses, and the dire economic consequences of Western sanctions, experts told Insider.
Robert English is a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.
A small but growing number of Kremlin insiders have started to express doubts about the war, which has been criticized by the long-time Russian president.
Ten sources with direct knowledge of the conflict conveyed their concerns to Bloomberg this month, saying the invasion will set the country back decades. The report said that the critics were spread across senior positions in government and state-run businesses.
While Putin continues to present a confident front, some Russians are losing faith in him.
They have a good reason to do that. The expert said that the cost of the conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980s was more costly for Russia than the one in Ukraine.
The USSR lost over 15,000 soldiers in Afghanistan in a decade of fighting.
English said that his reckoning is coming much more quickly.
The country has not provided an official update since Moscow claimed that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 others wounded since the invasion began. NATO estimates put the total closer to 15,000, while Ukraine says it has killed over 20,000 Russian soldiers.
Russians are starting to feel the effects of Western sanctions. Putin admitted that sanctions have begun to affect the country's energy industry, but claimed that Russia's economy has not been undermined as a result.
The head of Russia's central bank warned that the full impact of sanctions has not yet been felt, and Moscow's mayor said 200,000 residents could lose their jobs as Western companies continue to pull out of the country.
English said that he had set the country back economically.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development estimated last month that Russia's GDP will shrink this year.
The damage to Russia's international and domestic standing has already been done as a result of the new phase of the war, English said.
Russia will be a pariah state for a long time, but at least for a decade, he said.
Experts and Russians agree that Putin is unlikely to leave anytime soon. According to sources, Putin sees himself as being on an historic mission, one which he believes has the full support of the Russian public.
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