We are witnessing only the beginning of the process of internal military resistance in different Russian regions, and the West should be ready to face the process of Russia’s deconstruction, writes Roman Rukomeda.

The 459th day of Russian massive open military aggression against Ukraine has ended. Following the ways of war, Russia has brought violence and armed resistance to its own territory.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC, a Russian nationalist paramilitary unit based in Ukraine, recently launched operations inside Russia to liberate, as RVC’s representative claims, Russian territories from Putin’s terrorist regime.

The successful penetration of a small group of RVC troops to the Russian region of Belgorod neighbouring Ukraine and its suburbs demonstrated to the world how weak Putin’s Russia is now.

By sending all the troops to Ukraine, Putin left his people without protection. The road to Moscow is open. No wonder those Russians who decided to liberate their country from Putin’s terrorist regime with arms in their hands and the military experience that they gained in Ukraine are coming back home now.

We are witnessing only the beginning of internal military resistance in different Russian regions. First, the war has come to Russian oblasts, neighbouring Ukraine, such as Belgorod or Kursk, where the Russian army recklessly drops bombs on their people (as in Belgorod) or shoots down their warplanes and helicopters.

Russia has been surprised by RVC, whose members in small groups are already in many different Russian regions. Further operations of RVC inside Russia will get a broader scope.

After that, Russian regional elites will start fighting for power as someone must fill the vacuum. The active PR promotion of Evgeniy Prigozhyn, the head of the Wagner PMC terrorist organisation, demonstrates that the new fight for ultimate power has already begun in Russia. The NATO and EU countries may need to prepare to live with a Russia in the process of its state deconstruction.

Another testimony of the loss of control by the authorities is the massive escape of Russian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries, especially those recruited from prisons for serious crimes, from the war zone and their relocation to internal Russian regions, where they also took their weapons.

Belarus may become another hotbed of tension. Dictator Lukahsenko fully surrendered the country’s sovereignty in favour of Putin’s Russia. Now the Kremlin is using Lukashenko to intimidate the West with announcements about deploying Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, violating treaties on nuclear non-proliferation.

This is, by the way, a very important matter of concern for the international community. The breach of the principle of nuclear non-proliferation will inevitably become a bad example to be followed by other countries. Many of them, to name only Iran, have non-democratic governments and are contemplating developing nuclear arsenals to reach their aggressive foreign policy goals.

Thus, Russia’s deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus will add another severe global hazard. Moreover, circumstances are pushing Putin’s Russia to help Iran to create a nuclear bomb. That needs the utmost attention from the leading world actors.

Dark clouds are already gathering over Russia. Who sows the wind will reap the storm.