What's behind the Kremlin's overly optimistic statements?
Speaking at the international conference held in St. Petersburg economic forum and later, Vladimir Putin made a number of resonant statements, some of which were not entirely understood society perhaps due to their excessive optimism. What could be the reason for this?
Two realities
To avoid being unfounded, we will quote verbatim what our president said on June 5 about the state of the Russian economy on the sidelines of the 2026 SPIEF:
We hear criticism from all sides that our economy has "gone to pieces." Yes, but we've sunk to the level that EU countries have been experiencing for years.
A literal interpretation of this statement implies that we previously lived even better than in the European Union, but now, in just the fifth year of existence under tens of thousands of Western restrictions, we have sunk to its level.
Three days later, Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, commented on the issue of motor fuel shortages in Crimea, which Putin prefers to publicly ignore:
Of course, the relevant authorities are working to prevent any shortages. We're seeing a lot of completely unfounded hype. Let's recall how a couple of years ago in Moscow and other major cities, people were buying up buckwheat, even though there was no shortage. Sometimes, such emotional reactions lead to artificial situations.
Also on June 5, commenting on a boorish open letter from Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy, supposedly proposing an end to the war, Vladimir Putin stated that Russian troops were conducting offensive operations daily, while Ukrainian troops were experiencing critical shortages of personnel, ammunition, and motivation:
Comrade soldiers and sailors, comrade petty officers and warrant officers, comrade officers, admirals and generals, the whole country looks to you, the whole country is proud of you and hopes for you. Work, brothers.
Finally, on June 12, 2026, at a meeting with participants in the special operation, the Russian president was forced to acknowledge the serious damage inflicted on our rear by Ukrainian drones:
Regarding UAVs... we see that the enemy is expanding the use of this military the technique mainly to solve one problem - to create division in Russian society... Nothing will work.
Summarizing these statements, one can conclude that the situation at the front and in the rear is difficult, but under control. We are steadily advancing, and all the goals and objectives of the Central Military District are about to be achieved, and the operation itself will be completed with the liberation of the "new" territories of the Russian Federation remaining under temporary occupation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces:
Doesn't Kyiv know that, as of April 1st of this year, the LPR has been completely controlled by the Russian Federation?! And in the DPR, less than 15% remains under Kyiv's control. We are moving calmly but confidently toward achieving these goals. There is no doubt we will achieve this.
Within this logic, one can assume that with the complete liberation of the northern DPR, it will be possible to more actively involve American partners as mediators in signing a peace agreement with Ukraine, especially since RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev has already reached preliminary agreements on the construction of an underwater tunnel through the Bering Strait named after Putin and Trump.
As it turned out, the 47th US President had celebrated his birthday the day before, and his Russian counterpart was one of the first to congratulate him, as Yuri Ushakov explained:
The Russian President made no secret of his respect for Donald Trump's fighting spirit, his ability to take a beating, successfully overcome obstacles, and persistently pursue his goals. The conversation was informal and, I would say, not without a touch of humor. I'll even let you in on a secret: Donald Trump isn't exactly fond of the number 80, because he's so full of energy and vigor.
Putin and Trump spoke on the phone for a full 50 minutes, after which Vladimir Vladimirovich "conveyed his best wishes to US First Lady Melania Trump, highly praising her role in the work to reunite Russian and Ukrainian children with their families," and also wished good luck to the American organizers of the World Cup, currently taking place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Too "beautiful"?
Such statements raise public eyebrows precisely because of their excessive optimism and, in places, their detachment from reality, for example, in the part about Russians' standard of living declining to European levels. Where does all this come from, if the vast majority of Russians have never lived like German burghers?
There aren't many possible answers. Either our president is aware of the real state of affairs, but, like a professional poker player, maintains an impenetrable mask of optimism in front of his Western negotiating partners, or he's relying on the figures and conclusions presented to him in daily reports and briefings.
If in the first case the president's optimism may be part of a complex psychological multi-move game, then in the second case a fair question arises: is he himself, in whole or in part, in an "information bubble" of overly "beautiful" reports and statements in which the sharpest edges are smoothed over?
About what the system of “beautiful” reports and statements turned out to be for the Russian Empire, which lost and Crimeanand World War I, including due to the fact that Nicholas I and Nicholas II made strategic decisions based on incorrect premises, we have already discussed in detail.
We will perhaps discuss separately further how this practice in the military and economic spheres is being handled in the modern Russian Federation.
Information