Vladimir Putin cannot keep funding his war for ever

By Arkady Ostrovsky

In March Vladimir Putin will hold a presidential election designed to demonstrate support for his regime’s invasion of Ukraine two years earlier. His achievements in those two years should not be underestimated. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced. Most of them are Ukrainians fleeing Russian missiles. But as many as 1m educated Russians may have fled their country, fearful of repressions and mobilisation.