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https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/putins-invasion-ukraine-russia-protests-sanctions-222649810.html Putin's invasion of Ukraine 'is really splitting Russian society,' expert explains

Russian President Vladimir Putin owns the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, one expert explained, and that means that the totalitarian leader will also own what comes next.

"This was a decision that was taken by a single individual in consultation with maybe a half dozen members of his national security council," Timothy Frye, professor of post-Soviet foreign policy at Columbia University, told Yahoo Finance (video above). "So there's very little elite buy-in. And the Russian public has always been skittish about conflict with Ukraine and is perfectly willing to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty. The public opinion is very clear on that question. So what we've seen is a great deal of repression within Russia, both of the mass public and a real attempt to silence elite opinion. And that's a very difficult thing to do in a country with as diverse interest as Russia has."