Definitely aspirational. 
But the relationship between Russia and the rest of the world has fundamentally changed. I don’t see it going back to even where it was post-Crimean invasion. Russia will be ostracized financially and culturally unless and until Vlad and his cronies are replaced with people who are willing to work collaboratively with the international community.
For a country that has a one-trick-pony economy, in a market that is already under pressure to scale back to a tiny fraction of its current size for existential reasons, this change is not something that can be recovered from.
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Everything Russian press says is what Putin wants them to say… or else. Their patently absurd propaganda is IMO a very unsubtle form of projection.
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So, this is the kind of thing you’d want to spread around–true or not–to cause trouble for Putin and his advisors, right? I mean, I think it’s probably true, but if it’s not then putting out public statements saying “US intelligence says Putin being lied to” might cause Putin and his advisors to start behaving in weird ways towards each other. Sow dissent, as it were.
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Sources close to Putin say…
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The great plan to save the Russian economy- grey imports and smuggling are now fine.
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Probably- but they’re racking up a lot of temporary victories.
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They shot down their own plane.
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Honest question: are they?
(Sigh. Not that this matters economically in light of the massive damage done, it would be just a PR move slash compensatory justice.)
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