Analysis: Kremlin response to Kursk incursion shows how Putin freezes in a crisis

Faced with crisis, Vladimir Putin tends to freeze.

Moscow’s slow, fumbling military response to Ukraine’s surprise occupation of parts of the western Kursk region is the latest example of the Kremlin chief failing to respond with quick, decisive action to match his bellicose rhetoric.

The Kursk incursion is the fourth major blow to Putin’s authority since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and highlights the weaknesses of a top-down autocracy that operates largely on fear and punishment.

In each case — after Russia’s failure to topple the Ukrainian government at the start of the invasion, after the Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin led a rebellion against the regular Russia military command and after Islamist extremists struck the popular Crocus City Hall concert venue — the Kremlin’s response has been halting, with Putin waiting 24 hours or more to offer any public comment.

Read the full analysis here.