CNN —When Westerners talk about the conflict in Ukraine becoming a “forever war,” they tend to mean it as a bad thing. As the forever war becomes the organising principle of “late Putinism,” it excuses — even demands — the tightening grip of repression Putin needs to maintain his control of the nation. From Putin’s point of view, talk of a ‘forever war’ has one final virtue for him — it is demoralising to his enemies. However, from his point of view, talk of a “forever war” has one final virtue for him — it is demoralising to his enemies. No war lasts forever, but peace is still well over the horizon.

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Persons: Mark Galeotti, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ” Mark Galeotti, ”, ’, bankrolling, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin’s Organizations: Mayak Intelligence, University College London, CNN, New Regions, Russian Federation, ” Mark Galeotti Mayak Intelligence, General Locations: Chechnya, Ukraine, Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Russia, Ukrainian, Russian, Crimea, Moscow