Putin’s New Clothes: Sinking Fleets and the Kremlin’s Fear of Millions Who Want the War to End

The visual contrast is hard to miss. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky has largely replaced presidential suits with military-style clothing meant to show solidarity with troops fighting for the country’s survival.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Putin took the opposite path. For years, he projected control from behind long Kremlin tables in tailored civilian suits, maintaining distance between the presidency and the war. Now he is putting on a uniform. On Thursday, Putin appeared in full naval dress aboard the Pacific Fleet missile cruiser Varyag, overseeing exercises while threatening retaliation against Western commercial shipping. The wardrobe change matters because the Russia Putin is presenting has changed too. The death of the ‘normalcy’ myth For years, the suit helped sustain the Kremlin’s central fiction: Russia was conducting a limited “special military operation,” while normal life continued at home. That distinction is increasingly difficult to maintain. Putin first drew attention by appearing in camouflage at a Kursk command post in March 2025. His latest naval appearance goes further, presenting him explicitly as commander-in-chief of a country locked into a prolonged military confrontation. The uniform does not prove Russia has formally embraced “total war.” But visually, it acknowledges something the suit helped obscure: war now shapes the Russian state, economy and presidency. Other Topics of Interest Kyiv Condemns Putin’s Visit to Disputed Kuril Islands Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha says Russia’s occupation tactics in the Pacific reflect the same pattern used in its war against Ukraine. Novorossiysk punctures the naval show The timing makes Putin’s display particularly striking. A day before his appearance aboard the Varyag, Ukraine launched a major attack on Novorossiysk, Russia’s main Black Sea naval stronghold after repeated Ukrainian strikes forced Moscow to move much of its fleet away from occupied Crimea. The attack hit naval and port infrastructure and forced grain terminals to suspend operations. Russian authorities declared a state of emergency. So while Putin projected Russian naval power in the Pacific, Ukraine was demonstrating that Moscow could not protect its most important remaining Black Sea sanctuary. The battle for the oceans Putin also used the naval spectacle to respond to growing Western pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet. European governments have expanded sanctions and inspections against vessels suspected of helping Moscow circumvent oil restrictions. Putin called possible seizures of Russian vessels “piracy and robbery” and warned Russia could retaliate wherever it considered appropriate. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Liina went further, saying Russia was ready to inspect and detain ships linked to “unfriendly” states. The setting gave those threats extra weight. In naval uniform aboard a missile cruiser, Putin was turning pressure on Russia’s sanctions-busting maritime network into a military confrontation with the West. A military spectacle amid the Yabloko problem Putin’s new military image also comes as the Kremlin faces an uncomfortable domestic question: how many Russians would vote to end the war if given the chance? Russia’s Supreme Court this week barred Yabloko – the only registered party openly opposing the war – from September’s parliamentary election. Party leader Nikolai Rybakov told Reuters that “millions” of Russians shared Yabloko’s position. A July Levada poll also showed support for the Russian military’s actions falling to 66%, its lowest level since the full-scale invasion began. Kremlin-linked political strategists separately told Meduza that Yabloko’s anti-war campaign had begun gaining enough support to cause concern about United Russia’s electoral targets. There is no evidence Putin put on the uniform specifically to distract from Yabloko. But the imagery provides a useful counter-narrative: instead of Russians debating how to end the war, state media can show Putin commanding a missile cruiser and confronting the West. Turning Ukraine into a global war narrative The Pacific setting serves another purpose. By talking about Western ships, NATO’s presence in Asia and tensions with Japan, Putin can recast Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as part of a much larger global confrontation. He followed the exercises with his first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, reinforcing the image of Russia confronting Western-aligned powers across multiple theaters. That narrative shifts attention away from the central problem: more than four years after invading Ukraine, Moscow has still not achieved its original war aims. The uniform says what the suit no longer can The civilian suit helped sell the idea that Russia could wage war without becoming a wartime society. The naval uniform sends a different message. With Russian naval bases under Ukrainian attack, its oil fleet facing Western pressure, Pacific marines fighting in Ukraine and an anti-war party barred from elections, the Kremlin increasingly struggles to separate Putin’s presidency from the war. The uniform therefore looks less like a symbol of confidence than an acknowledgement of how completely the war has come to define his rule.