ISW: Kremlin fails attempts to motivate Russians for protracted war

All measures by Russian officials do not have the desired effect of motivating Russians to take part in the war.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports in its daily report:

In his speech on 2 February at a concert marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi forces by the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country was once again facing a modern manifestation of Nazism that directly threatens Russia

Putin used flawed historical parallels to draw analogies between the "special military operation" in Ukraine and the Great Patriotic War, in part in an attempt to create long-term information conditions for a protracted war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov similarly perpetuated the February 2 information operation that the war in Ukraine was a real domestic threat and said that long-range weapons supplied by the West required effort.

Acceptance of applications for new Russian passports has been suspended since 2 February. The lack of microchips for passports is partly a result of the mass application for passports in 2022, partly due to the exodus caused by partial mobilisation.

The increase in the number of passport applications indicates that social training efforts to conduct a "special military operation" in Russia and revive patriotic fervour are not having the desired effect, the ISW stresses.