New signs Putin is aggravated by opposition within his country

WASHINGTON (TND) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has intensified his rhetoric about political dissidents in his country. Many have interpret it as a sign Putin feels threatened.

"Any people, the Russian people especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors, and will spit them out, like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths," Putin said in an address Wednesday. “I am certain that this necessary and natural self-cleaning of society will only strengthen our country."

According to the U.S. State Department, about 15,000 Russians have been detained for protesting Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

“Clearly citizens are aware that something is very wrong," said Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the Geopolitics Team for the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy.

At least 7,000 Russian troops have been killed in the first three weeks of fighting, according to U.S. intelligence. Berzina said this is likely fueling Putin's threatening language.

“He is upping the ante because it is going so bad," Berzina said. “If he feels that he is in a corner and losing and the only way that he can maintain his legitimacy with his population is to make this about civilization at large, escalation may be more likely than de-escalation.”

Growing dissent hasn't necessarily stemmed from Russians seeing images and footage of deadly scenes in Ukraine, Berzina explained.

“The worst atrocities that we see that Russia is committing, Russia is also showing in its media but say ‘this is what Ukraine is doing,'" Berzina said.

Fallout of the historic economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies will certainly impact wealthy and upper middle-class Russians, Berniza said, but likely won't be the main driver of opposition to Putin.

“I have always thought it’s a terrible idea to try to out-suffer the Russians. Your average Russian hasn’t had a very high quality of life.”

Putin has also attempted to hide or distort the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy by framing it as the West's attempt to destroy Russia, a tactic he repeated during his Wednesday speech.

“What I think is something that is not going to be able to be hidden and really matters in Russian history is body bags," Berzina said. “Because these are your kids. And here’s Putin who’s talking about glory and his gigantic tsarist visions for what he wants in the world but when you’re in a family, what you want is your kid to come back.”