By Thomas Theiner

The FSB tries its hand at cloning

Putin is awakening to some very unpleasant realities and must now choose between backing down or doubling down: abandon the collapsing secessionist movement in Eastern Ukraine that he himself created—or murder Russians in Russia as a pretext for invading Ukraine.

The first option would kill his image as the great Russian leader and glorious victor over the West; the second one would see Russian troops decimated in a bloody war, before being bogged down combatting a massive insurgency for many years to come. Meanwhile Russia’s economy would be hit by all-encompassing sanctions and total ostracism in the West, all of which would require Putin to massively ramp up oppressive actions in Russia.