Russia's Major Change Putin was incapable of anticipating (The Ukrainian Conflict)

Russia is in serious trouble, and not just because it is losing the conflict in Ukraine. Russia's future was jeopardized years before Vladimir Putin came to power and irresponsibly attacked Ukraine owing to an unanticipated event. Hop on this spectacular new narrative to learn about one important problem threatening Russia's future. 💀🗺💣

• Despite the fact that they are losing the war in Ukraine, Russia is in serious trouble. Russia's future was in jeopardy years before Vladimir Putin rose to power and rashly invaded Ukraine. Its population was shrinking. Russia is experiencing severe demographic issues as a result of a perfect storm of disease, economic hardship, and war. And when we closely examine what is occurring within its borders right now, the Russian Federation's future appears gloomy. Russia's population crisis is something Putin has long been aware of. He almost immediately started thinking of ways to boost Russia's population after assuming power in the year 2000. Putin believed that having more people meant having more power, so he needed to increase the population as quickly as possible.
• Russia experienced an economic crisis in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Birth rates almost always decline when an economy collapses in a nation. When we examine the effects of the current economic sanctions and the conflict in the Ukraine on family planning in Russia, we will later look at why this phenomenon occurs. Russia's birth rates remained low as the 1990s went on. The fact that so few people in the nation today are in the 25–35 age group indicates how this has affected the country's future. Additionally, there aren't enough people in this age group to significantly increase the birth rate and expand the population because this is the age group at which people typically start families.
• But this is not the only issue. The decisions Putin has made over the years have exacerbated Russia's demographic crisis. Putin has been promising to address the population growth issue for years, but he has fallen short. Putin even stated, in reference to the slowing rate of population growth, that saving the Russian people is our top national priority. Putin made the decision to throw money at the issue without any real plan in order to try and spur this growth and improve Russia's situation. Unsurprisingly, this strategy was a total failure. Let's examine what caused the demographic crisis, what Putin attempted to do to resolve it, and why things are about to get much worse for Russia.
• When the Soviet Union collapsed, mortality rates in Russia were significantly higher than birth rates, which resulted in a population decline. To put this in perspective, the Soviet Union had a population of about 195 million people prior to World War II. The population fell to about 170 million after the war's devastating effects. These figures include former Soviet Union member states that are now independent of Russia. The magnitude of life lost as a result of World War II is revealed by these statistics, though. During the Cold War, as the USSR expanded, so did its population. In 1989, there were about 287 million people living in the Soviet Union. But when it fell, there were only 148 million people left in Russia.
• If we concentrate on the data of the region that would later become modern-day Russia during this time period, we observe that its population increased throughout the Soviet Era as well. If we only consider the population of Russia, it grew from about 120 million in 1960 to just over 148 million by 1990. Sadly, this is the point at which Russia's situation begins to deteriorate. The population of Russia had decreased by about 3 million by the beginning of the 2000s. There were fewer than 143 million people living in Russia in 2007. Putin had failed miserably for a man who had promised to improve Russia's demographics in the early 2000s. In an effort to lower the nation's mortality rate, Vladimir Putin tried to modernize hospitals and other aspects of the Russian healthcare system.
• He also set up financial aid programs for anyone looking to start or expand their family and launched campaign after campaign to raise the birth rate. An allowance system for families was also included, with larger families receiving bonuses. In essence, Putin encouraged the expansion of families in any way he could, short of compelling women to become parents. In his speeches, Putin stressed the value of a large family and the importance of family values. Putin only has two daughters that we are aware of, so this is a little ironic. It has been asserted that he has at least two additional children from previous relationships with mistresses. Putin would have demonstrated to the nation that big, close-knit families were Russia's best hope for the future if he had wanted to lead by example.
• But he hardly ever mentions his daughters, and he doesn't really present himself as a family man. Putin turned to immigration policies to encourage more people to immigrate to Russia after encouraging large families failed to produce the desired results. Although you probably don't think anyone would ever want to move to Russia, a significant number of immigrant workers from Central Asia did, and as long as they could speak Russian, they were able to become citizens of the country. Putin also issued Russian passports to citizens of neighboring nations purely for the purpose of increasing the population. These tactics appeared to be somewhat effective because, by 2018, Russia had a population of about 144 million.
• Nevertheless, it's possible that these figures were exaggerated and don't really reflect the situation as it actually existed in the Russian Federation. This is due to the fact that the Russian population was particularly hard-hit as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world at the start of 2019. There have been about 18, according to current estimates. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 5.8 million infections in Russia and about 807,000 fatalities brought on by coronavirus-related complications. The already-dwindling population of the nation was dealt yet another devastating blow by this. But instead of concentrating on his own people and assisting the nation's population in recovering from the pandemic, Putin made the unthinkable decision to invade Ukraine.
• For obvious reasons, war never promotes population growth. Citizens of a nation lose their lives in times of war. In fact, Ukraine is experiencing exactly this. Putin sent more young men to die in an unnecessary war, worsening the population crisis despite the fact that the pandemic devastated Russia. According to sources, the invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the deaths of approximately 100,000 Russians. Both soldiers and civilians fall into this category. Losing tens of thousands of lives a month to war is simply not the way to go for a country that is trying to increase its population. Additionally, it is a major issue for Russia that the majority of those dying are males between the ages of 20 and 40.
• This age group will determine whether or not the next generation swells in size. The future of Russia is negatively impacted by the fact that these men are the main demographic that is dying because they are the ones who must father children in order to increase birth rates and population size. Every soldier who dies is a man who will never be a father. Putin just doesn't seem to understand the math, even though it seems fairly straightforward.
• He is enlisting a large number of young men to fight and perish in Ukraine. It is obvious that forging Ukraine back into what he views as a new Russian Empire is much more important to him than the future of the nation. Putin, however, might just be bonkers enough to think that his war is benefiting the Russian people.