264. Bonya reminds the Russians that Putin is not a ‘good tsar’

The three main actors in an unnecessary global war now face serious trouble on their home fronts. They know that history will not remember them kindly and that they are already being cursed.

These individuals are US President Donald Trump, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the less said, the better. To avoid the court and the election, the man has not only destroyed Gaza and Lebanon but also a large Jewish community, which, despite earlier sympathy, is now the most hated community worldwide.

Donald Trump is often seen as a madman, a failed politician, and a third-rate diplomat. His approval rating has come down to 33 per cent. His actions have pushed the US to the point that recovering its former glory has become increasingly difficult.

Now comes Mr. Putin, whose approval and trust ratings have fallen to their lowest levels since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to a series of recent opinion polls by state and independent organizations.

Putin now faces a broader challenge: the viral dissemination of a celebrity blogger’s criticism of Russian authorities.

Victoria Bonya, a well-known figure in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Dom-2, the country’s version of Big Brother, shared a video warning the Russian president that a growing number of issues could spiral out of control.

In the viral video, she says, “The people are afraid of you, artists are afraid, and governors are afraid of you.” Her 18-minute Instagram video has garnered 26 million views and more than 1.3 million likes.

Surprisingly, Moscow publicly acknowledged the sharp criticism and said it was working to address the issues Bonya identified.

Bonya highlighted numerous issues, noting that no regional governor would risk addressing them directly with Putin. The concerns are extensive: flooding in Dagestan, oil pollution along the Black Sea coast, livestock culling in Siberia, internet blackouts, and pressure on small businesses from rising prices and taxes.

Bonya is lucky to live outside Russia; otherwise, the reaction in Moscow would have been different. After all, how would Putin tolerate “That people are being squeezed into a coiled spring, and that one day that spring will shoot out”?

However, the comments are described as a heroic act outside Russia, but in Russia, they are seen as a calculated move, and the post is said to have been done at the behest of Moscow, as the parliamentary elections are due later this year.

However, few in Moscow believe that Bonya is portraying Putin as the “good tsar” and creating a narrative to shift blame for the country’s problems onto subordinates, thereby preserving his personal reputation even as dissatisfaction grows.

Four years of war is a long time, and people have grown increasingly frustrated by the fighting and mounting losses. Prices are rising, and the war is wearing them down. Putin has to step in quickly to cool this dissatisfaction.

Out of the three, Putin is still the least hated politician because the four-year war has not impacted the world, but it has been a great pain for my friends in Kyiv. I would be the happiest person if the war ended and my friends went back home from Poland and Germany, where they have been staying these days since the war broke out.