“This is what we are striving for.” Exactly what Putin has been striving for has been a subject of much consternation and debate, especially in Ukraine, where thousands have been killed and cities have been flattened, and in Western capitals that have sent billions in weapons and economic aid to Kyiv to help the country withstand Russia’s aggression.In early December, one opposition politician, Ilya Yashin, was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison on charges of “spreading false information” after he dissected Russian atrocities in the city of Bucha, near Kyiv, in an effort to debunk the official Kremlin line that those reports were staged or fabricated to smear Russia.In July, Moscow municipal lawmaker Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison on similar charges after he opened a public meeting with a moment of silence for those dying in the war.So either release Gorinov or put Putin in jail for seven years.” Most independent media have been forced out of the country, and hundreds of thousands of Russians fled what the Kremlin called “a partial mobilization” that disrupted Putin’s promise of a swift and successful war that won’t affect the livelihoods of civilians.The laws have been enforced selectively to target longtime Putin critics, while pro-war hawks and state television propagandists are allowed to criticize Russian military commanders for heavy battlefield losses and even use the word war without penalties."