Putin’s Newest Annexation Is Dire for Russia Too - The Atlantic

Vladimir Kara-Murza, another opposition politician who has played an important role in campaigning for individual sanctions, is also in prison, where he remains equally defiant. "It continues to amaze me," he told an interviewer via smuggled messages, "how many serious Western analysts buy the Kremlin's propaganda on the 'overwhelming popularity' of Putin and of the war. If this were true, the authorities wouldn't need to rig elections, muzzle the media, or imprison and murder their opponents. The Kremlin knows the real situation—and the only thing it has left in the toolbox to prevent protests in Russia is fear."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/russia-annex-ukraine-putin/671607/