As I said, the whole Rubles for gas thing is semantics only...sanctions bypassed...JoeFraud humiliated yet again...
And, I think it is wrong to think of this pissing contest being "won" by anybody, everybody lost...especially civilians...especially those in the former Soviet gulag...(that quip about Rus being surprised at not be welcomed as the Slavic liberator...remember that!)...
Don't care about Nazis, don't care about Imperialist Russians wanting to regain their Soviet size, don't care about feckless Eurotard's, don't about oligarchs East or West getting their balls battered...
Winning? Come on, the propaganda on both sides is thick with BS! Russia for whatever reasons it may admit or not admit didn't achieve a total victory and the Ukrainians didn't get totally defeated despite being totally outnumbered, out-equipped and almost completely without any air assets...and regardless if we will ever learn the truth Russia can characterize their
special operation any way they desire and I think it obvious they will have nothing but heroics and no admissions of error to declare.
No matter the outcome, no matter what gets negotiated...if anybody thinks the region will remain peaceful is batshyt-crazy. As I said many times...this is going to be a pyrrhic victory for Putin & Co...if he thinks this is going to dissuade other for Soviet occupied peoples from reaching out for NATO or dissuade Americans to abandon NATO it is the exact opposite that is occurring...regardless if you, me...we don't like it...it is happening, it will continue to happen and there isn't a damn thing we can do to stop it.
Hero of the Russian Federation, General of the Army and most recently Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu...is still missing...and after this much time I have to presume he is either rotting in the cells of Lubyanka or rotting in a hole in Khimki forest...so, out with Putin's closest friend and in ascendance is the incendiary Nikolai Patrushev, the Director of the Russian Security Council and FSB. Patrushev is a long time spook recruited by the KGB in 1975 and this clown is a true-believer in the nobility of his FSB elect and he has hated America since the Cold War and remains convinced America wants Russia to disappear and he is on record stating the Theocracy of Iran is and will remain a vital ally and partner with Russia. He loathes the West like a diehard Soviet and it shows and he is rumored to have a hand in all of the big corruptions and assassinations over the past two decades. A model Russian Christian in every respect, eh? And it appears Putin is also shuffling other high-ranking officers in and out of top positions over opposition to Ukraine policy. The hard-liners are in ascendance, there will be more special operations, more threats, more opportunities for catastrophic errors. Bank on it.
ETA in support of NATO point...
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/natos-poland-says-its-willing-hosting-us-nukes-russia-deterrentPast abuse victims memories have not faded...