Abstract
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his euphemistic manner, announced the invasion of Ukraine - a sovereign state - and outlined loud, unsubstantiated "aspirations", among which are "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine", "bringing to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians." He also mentioned that "our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories." The past eight months have given rise to many questions, and the fundamental "aspirations" have completely disappeared from the political agenda. What are the contradictions in the Kremlin reality ,and what can this lead to?