Reality vs. Russian imperialism The hysteria of Mikheev and Co.

One of the most influential U.S. analysts, founder of Stratfor and Geopolitical Futures, George Friedman, presented his forecast for 2026. The main points of his analysis are that the Cold War did not end in Berlin, but in Ukraine, Russia has dropped out of the league of great powers, and the new world order will be built around U.S.–China relations.

“To me, the Cold War ended in Ukraine when the Russian army failed to occupy all of Ukraine, driven back from Kyiv, and now is standing there trying to hold on to a very small wedge of Ukraine. It demonstrated that it could not invade Europe, which was the fundamental fear of the Cold War,” he said in a Geopolitical Futures podcast to host Christian Smith.

Friedman also added that Russia doesn’t even appear to be a major regional power:

“They can engage in various subversions, send their intelligence services in various places, but they are not a global power. They've lost their eastern flank. Central Asia no longer belongs to them. They've lost the South Caucasus. They [after the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan mediated by Trump] are now allied with the United States. These were parts of Russia.”

All of this can be described as a reasoned and accurate analysis of the situation, which, of course, drove various Russian propagandists into indescribable rage. These individuals, long profiting personally from it, have been selling Russian society a drug called “imperialism,” delivered through television via an unceasing flood of mind-numbing information designed to keep Russians in the puppet-masters’ desired state of mind.

The names of these mouthpieces of the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions are familiar to many. There’s Alexander Dugin, Vladimir Solovyov, and a whole bunch of “analysts” of varying levels of shamelessness and stupidity. This time, on a Solovyov broadcast, a “political scientist” named Sergey Mikheev—resembling the eccentric gamekeeper Kuzmich from the film Peculiarities of the National Hunt—reminded viewers of himself, speaking with melancholy and sorrow about how similar “call-in experts” had voiced the same ideas before him.

“Our policy regarding the post-Soviet space hasn’t been very effective. A deadlock has developed: Russia owes everyone, but no one owes Russia. This allows post-Soviet countries to implement certain projects, which serve as a form of blackmail against us,” he said.

Admittedly, according to the laws of this genre, one almost wanted to hand him a shot of vodka and a pickle to go with it, set to some fitting background music. But seriously, Mikheev and his ilk, with statements like this, only end up proving the accuracy of Friedman’s conclusions—though they cannot admit the real reason behind Moscow’s rapid loss of influence. This is why they feel a grinding, teeth-gritting rage, which, incidentally, is itself a kind of indicator of the weakness of modern Russia.

These Russian propagandists are particularly enraged by the signing of the “Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Intergovernmental Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia”, which took place on August 8, 2025, in Washington in the presence of the leaders of both countries and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The document contains key norms of international law, such as mutual recognition and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. This fact is obviously distasteful to the adherents of Russia’s imperial policy, which is hardly surprising, since back in August 2008, Russia demonstrated to the world that it openly disregards international legal norms and principles. Moscow reinforced this stance later by annexing Crimea and, nearly four years ago, launching one of the bloodiest wars in Europe since World War II.

Today, Russia is increasingly referred to as “China’s raw-material appendage,” which further confirms its loss of status as a global power. Yet this truth will never be admitted by Russian propagandists—regardless of their price, they all push the same agenda—continuing to infect Russians with the bacillus of imperialism, relying on the primitive calculation that the television will always beat the refrigerator.