Putin Has Had a Month From Hell—and He's Starting to Lose Control of Russia

Putin has been taking serious losses all year, but April has been particularly brutal.

In addition to influential Russians speaking out against his government and calling for change—which is unheard of in Russia—almost everything that could have gone wrong, did.

He lost his most important European puppet when Viktor Orbán was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls in Hungary. And as a result, Ukraine finally received approval for its €90 billion EU loan—one of the key outcomes Putin had been desperately trying to block.

One of Putin’s military helicopters was shot down in Mali—then his soldiers got surrounded and chased off their bases by local militants. It was an embarrassing sight—heavily armored Russian military vehicles fleeing from a mob of fighters in old Toyota pickup trucks armed with nothing but refurbished machine guns.

Putin’s soldiers and mercenaries have been accused of killing, raping, and looting communities across parts of Africa for years, extracting gold, diamonds, and other valuable resources. The locals have had enough—and they are seizing the moment while Putin and his death cult are weak. This is a big deal because all of that stolen African wealth has helped fund his genocide in Ukraine.

Putin’s entire tough-guy persona is built on fear, and now Mali is humiliating his army—just like Ukraine has been.

For the first time, Ukrainian drones have reached the Ural Mountains, striking deep inside Russia—territory that was once considered a safe zone from military attacks. And now, one of Putin’s crucial oil and gas terminals in Perm, Russia—over 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border—is engulfed in flames.

All of these attacks are making Russians furious. They have been told their entire lives that Russia was the second-strongest military on earth, yet massive explosions are now happening across the country on a daily basis while the economy is in freefall.

To make matters worse, Putin is blocking all social media platforms, while pushing Russians toward his new government-backed app, Max—a move that would be like Trump forcing all Americans to use Truth Social.

Pavel Durov, the Russian founder of Telegram, publicly condemned Putin, saying: “No government should have the power to shut down communication.” He went on to tell his Russian followers that only governments that fear their own people try to control information.

The pressure on Putin is mounting as his popularity inside Russia continues to collapse.

This comes at a time when Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of Russia’s Communist Party, warned that a revolution could be on the horizon, saying: “People cannot endlessly endure declining living standards and mounting losses. If the government ignores these problems, the consequences could be explosive.”

There are dozens of formally independent regions within Russia with their own identities and cultures—places like Chechnya, Dagestan, and Tatarstan—where calls for independence have repeatedly surfaced over the years. They have been exploited by the criminals in the Kremlin for decades, and as Putin continues to suffer major losses, those ambitions are beginning to feel more achievable.

People across Russia are waking up, and Putin’s lies and propaganda are no longer working like they used to.

Although Putin traditionally retreats from public view and hides in his bunker when crises erupt, he made an unusual television appearance this week after Ukraine struck the Tuapse oil refinery and export hub for the third time. He once again tried to convince Russians that everything was under control—but images of fireballs shooting hundreds of feet into the sky told a different story. The facility appears to be a complete loss, and people across Russia know it.

Not only is his Black Sea export capacity severely damaged—if not completely destroyed—but his two main facilities in the Baltic Sea region have also been crippled.

Energy experts are warning that Russia may soon be forced to shut down some oil wells because it no longer has sufficient storage capacity—and this isn’t like flipping a light switch. Once wells are shut down, they can clog and require costly repairs or even new drilling, a process that has historically depended on foreign technology and expertise—something Russia lacks at the moment.

This month has been an absolute nightmare for Putin, and one of his former allies, Igor Girkin, captured the mood from his prison cell when he wrote: “So much will probably change this year that all current realities will seem wild and a mirage. We are in for a very cruel sobering up after a quarter of a century of mindlessly devouring the legacy of our ancestors. Soon people will have to fight en masse and work hard not for ideas, but simply for a piece of bread and a little heat and electricity during the long winter.”

Another Russian dissident, Alexander Skobov, delivered an equally chilling warning from inside a courtroom, declaring: “I am the accuser here. I accuse the ruling Putin clique of planning, unleashing, and waging an aggressive war—of committing war crimes in Ukraine, of political terror in Russia, and of corrupting my people.”

And in a stunning reversal, former Kremlin insider and loyalist Ilya Remeslo published a manifesto labeling Vladimir Putin a "war criminal and a thief" while demanding his immediate arrest. He argued that the Russian leader is "not a legitimate president," claiming that his decades of absolute power have resulted in a "dead-end war" and economic ruin. By dismissing Putin’s choreographed public appearances as a mere "circus," Remeslo signaled a radical break from his past role as a state defender. Ultimately, he called for Putin to be "brought to justice" to end what he described as a vicious cycle of corruption and fear.

I could go on and on about influential Russians sounding the alarm that Putin is going to destroy the country if they don’t act fast. So when Donald Trump tries to convince Americans that Putin is winning the war, just know that Russians themselves strongly disagree. Trump is simply trying to help the bloodthirsty authoritarians hold on to power.

Putin has never been closer to defeat, but between the corporate media downplaying these developments and the massive Russian propaganda machine (including the White House), many Americans still don’t see the full picture. If you found this article insightful, please consider hitting the like button so more people can see it.

Sources:

• BBC: Russian fighters confirm withdrawal from northern Mali city after separatist attacks

• Kyiv Post: Ukraine Strikes Orsk and Perm 1,500 km Behind the Lines

• Politico: Ukraine hammers Russian Black Sea oil facilities

• The Times: Russia’s Communist leader warns a 1917-style revolution may be on the way

• Ukrainian News: Igor Girkin predicts Russia’s military defeat

• The Guardian: ‘Put him on trial’: pro-Kremlin loyalist turns on Putin in rare outburst

• Kyiv Post: Russia Is Running Out of Places to Put Its Oil as Exports Stall