The Russian regime got a bloody nose in local elections last weekend. At
the same time, Russia exchanged prisoners with Ukraine and agreed to
hold peace talks.
But what does it all mean?
Is Russian president Vladimir Putin losing his grip on power and having second thoughts about waging war in Europe?
Should the West help the opposition to topple him? Or should it try
to make new deals with the Kremlin, as French president Emmanuel Macron
is keen to do?
"United Russia's campaign across the country was very, very
successful," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after local elections
last Sunday (8 September).
Putin's political party held on to its majority in most big cities
and all 16 of his governor candidates won their posts, he added.
But its majority in the Moscow city council plunged from 38 to 25 out of 40.
It did even worse in other parts of Russia, such as Khabarovsk and
Irkutsk, and it lost half its support in Russia-occupied Crimea in
Ukraine.
With the UK distracted by Brexit and with the German chancellor on her
way out of office, French leader Macron has become Europe's spokesman on
the world stage.
But for some experts, such as James Nixey from Chatham House, the 41-year old French leader still had "a lot to learn".
Macron will "get nothing" from his Russia summit because Putin "wants
something so fundamentally - legally, morally - different [to what the
EU stands for] that it cannot be granted", Nixey said.
"Most Western leaders come into power believing their predecessors
were incompetent and only someone truly capable such as themselves can
succeed in this task," Nixey added.
"Macron will fail because - as he will come to realize - Russia has
no interest in being 'brought round'. It's just not that kind of
regime," Nixey said.
Read more: How should the EU handle Russia now?
