On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine is still running strong in Russia, with a Kremlin spokesperson telling the Russian people that invasion of Ukraine will "make life better" for them.
This is in spite of the fact that the ensuing embargo by western nations has caused the Russian economy to implode, with a leaked internal Kremlin forecast projecting the economy to shrink by 12 percent just this year alone.
""We are in fact now living in the conditions of a perfect storm and the moment of truth, that very storm and moment of truth that will ensure and protect our interests, and make it so that your lives are better, more comfortable, more stable, and more secure," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Daily Beast reporter Allison Quinn.
Peskov also claimed that "our president knows where he is leading our country" and that 'the whole country supports him.'"
RELATED: Russian military analyst delivers bleak assessment of his country's war efforts on state TV
Quinn skeptically notes that "the war that the Kremlin has depicted as a heroic crusade against nonexistent neo-Nazi leaders in Ukraine has led to hundreds of foreign companies cutting ties with Russia, killed as many as 27,000 Russian troops, and, according to Ukrainian intelligence, left Putin’s military in shambles."
Meanwhile, experts believe Russia's military has taken such heavy losses that their war aims may have to be scaled back again. Even Russian military analysts appear to be more pessimistic in their reports on state TV.