Just watched Russia’s main political talk show with notorious propagandist Soloviev (Mar 9). Couldn’t believe my ears. Two hardcore pro-Putin guests - Shaknazarov and Bagdasarov - acknowledged the impact of sanctions, military failures, and called for an end to the invasion.

1/ Many Russian elites are dissatisfied with the war. But these two could not say it spontaneously. This show is pre-recorded and carefully orchestrated. Which means that these discussions were approved and permitted.

2/ Shaknazarov acknowledged that Ukrainian government has unified the country against Russia. Ukraine has well-trained military forged by 8 years of war in Donbas. There is no way to install pro-Russian government because nobody influential would agree to be in this role.

3/ At the same time, sanctions are taking effect and can change public opinion in Russia. I can lead to protests, destabilisation, and regime change. Sanctions also lead to international isolation. The last allies of Russia - India and China - will leave Russia.

4/ Russian army achieved its goals. Donbas is “liberated”. NATO only benefits from the protracted conflict. Shaknazarov called for an end to the “operation”.

5/ Another notorious guest of the program Bagdasarov said that sanctions are likely to be lifted from Iran soon. Iran oil will replace Russian oil. Other countries, such as Kazakhstan, are likely to trade with the West, not Russia. It can lead to full International isolation.

6/ The army destroyed the main Ukrainian forces and demoralised the government achieving its goal. Russia cannot “denazify” Ukraine. It should be done by Ukrainians themselves. Russia should make Ukraine neutral but it cannot risk new Afghanistan. Stop the invasion.

'Another Afghanistan, but even worse’: First criticism of Vladimir Putin’s war on Russian state TV

The first chink of criticism of Vladimir Putin’s war has appeared on Russian state television, with demands to halt the bloody military invasion.

It was described as “another Afghanistan, but even worse”, in reference to the ten-year Soviet occupation ending in humiliation in 1989 which ultimately contributed to the fall of the USSR.

The calls are astonishing since state TV has featured wall-to-wall propaganda for Putin and the war, with vitriolic attacks on the West, especially Britain and the US.

Kremlin-controlled channel Rossiya 1 pundit Karen Shakhnazarov warned viewers that the conflict in Ukraine will isolate Russia.

“I have a hard time imagining taking cities such as Kyiv. I can’t imagine how that would look,” the filmmaker told uber-loyalist host Vladimir Solovyov.

He demanded “ending this operation” to “stabilise things within the country”.

And he warned: “If this picture starts to transform into an absolute humanitarian disaster, even our close allies like China and India will be forced to distance themselves from us.

“This public opinion, with which they’re saturating the entire world, can play out badly for us.”

Another pundit academic Semyon Bagdasarov said: “Do we need to get into another Afghanistan, but even worse?

“There are more people [in Ukraine] and they’re more advanced in their weapon handling.

“We don’t need that. Enough already.”

Solovyov - who owns an Italian villa seized under EU sanctions - was forced to intervene to silence the criticism.

There was a flicker of criticism, too, on Zvezda TV channel, controlled by the Russian defence ministry.

A serving army officer told a talk-show audience that Russian soldiers were dying in Ukraine - but the presenter butted in saying “no, no, no….stop.”

Russia has hidden the death toll from the conflict and the state media is doing nothing to uncover the true facts.

Since the war started, a number of independent and opposition media outlets have been gagged or closed, most notably Echo Moscow radio, almost the last bastion of the freer media Russia enjoyed after the fall of the Red flag.

Hundreds of journalists are among tens of thousands of educated Russians to have fled abroad in the past fortnight, fearing an even more intense crackdown.

There is no doubt Western sanctions are adding to the anxiety of many Russians, with banks blocking foreign currency withdrawals, prices rising and shortages appearing in shops as the rouble plunged.

The views of the critics on show ‘An Evening with Vladimir Solovyov’ clearly reflect an unease in the country yet despite this backing for Putin remains high, and many blame the West, and not him, for the pain of the sanctions.

And the vast majority of the output on state TV is slavish in its pro-Putin, anti-West rhetoric, highlighting at length conspiracy theories relating, for example, to US bio-warfare laboratories in Ukraine.

In another broadcast this week, Channel 1 launched a character assassination on Volodymyr Zelensky, a clear sign of Moscow’s concern that he is cutting through and has united the West in support of Ukraine.