The new year is off to a rocky start for Moscow, and even its most zealous propagandists struggled to put a positive spin on the unpleasant surprises this holiday season brought for the Kremlin.
While most of them were off the air until Jan. 11 for the holidays, the U.S. carried out a surprise operation in Venezuela and dramatically seized an oil tanker sailing under a Russian flag—both adding salt in the wound as the Kremlin’s bets in Ukraine peace talks don’t seem to be paying off, with U.S. President Donald Trump last week greenlighting a bipartisan sanctions bill.
Sergey Karnaukhov, the host of Karnaukhov’s Labyrinth on the Solovyov Live channel, complained that these events demonstrated Russia’s weakness and thus ruined the holiday season for many Russian citizens. He was especially aggrieved after having previously boasted about how effectively Russia would protect Nicolás Maduro, who wisely placed his trust in the Kremlin.
After the Venezuelan leader was extracted to the U.S., embarrassed Russian propagandists blamed him for his own capture and compared him to Syria’s Bashar Assad, claiming that if Russians had been granted more authority in Venezuela and Syria, everything would have turned out differently.
The string of humiliations on the international front pale in comparison to domestic troubles, however, with Russia’s flailing economy taking center stage. On Sunday, decorated state TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov abruptly abandoned his frequent praise of Trump. Instead, the host of Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov grimly concluded that Russia’s war against Ukraine will continue for a long time, and Moscow should be prepared to survive without relying mainly on its oil revenue.
One day earlier, he had delivered a similar spiel on his channel Solovyov Live. He said the U.S. had weakened the economies of Iran and Venezuela through crippling sanctions and warned that Russia could face the same fate. “Our biggest task and our most important challenge is that Iran and Venezuela don’t happen here. It’s all about the economy. It ensures victory in war. It does not guarantee it, but you can’t win without it,” he told viewers.
“If we continue to remain in conditions of real stagnation—regardless of what [Central Bank governor] Ms. [Elvira] Nabiullina says—we will have colossal problems,” Solovyov added. “If we keep focusing solely on fighting inflation, they will do to us what we see them doing to Venezuela and Iran.”
He pondered out loud, “Why are we allowing total mayhem in our economy? Why do we refuse to focus on solving our main issues?” In lieu of relying on its oil revenue, he said, Russia would soon have to build “a different kind of economy.” In the same breath, he cited Trump’s rhetoric about Greenland and Venezuela to call for Russia to start more “special military operations” against neighboring countries to secure its sphere of influence. He did not explain how the Kremlin could sustain another such quagmire, much less multiple invasions, considering the country’s faltering economy and mounting casualties.
On a regional level, even the biggest cheerleaders of Vladimir Putin’s regime are speaking out about economic issues plaguing the country because of the so-called “special military operation.” On Dec. 30, 2025, State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov answered questions from his constituents on his Telegram channel. He admitted there’s a massive budget deficit, and said things won’t get any better until Russia’s war ends.
Appearing on Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov just ahead of the new year, Federation Council member Alexei Kondratiev likewise urged Russia to focus on its economy and place its Central Bank under complete control of the government, saying the country’s economy remains largely the same as it was in 1992.
“Our cargo transportation should be on par with China... but we’re yet to develop our territories inherited from our ancestors three hundred years ago,” he griped. “We’re yet to build the roads throughout our entire northern territory of the Urals, most of Siberia and the Far East, there is just the railroad. These issues should be dealt with, but we need money for that.”
Despite all these economic woes, Solovyov said, Russia would rather keep fighting in Ukraine than go along with Trump’s peace plan.
“The main argument from Trump and his team is that the Russian economy is in a very bad state, and therefore Russians will make concessions,” he said. “They don’t understand that we won’t.”
