Internationalism No. 80, October 2025 Page 5 This article was originally published in our Russian comrades’ newspaper Proletarskij Internatzionalism. On June 20 th , at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps, it is Russian land [ Kremlin.ru , June 20 th , 2025]. This statement was made in the context of discussions about the state of the Russian economy. It clearly reflects the Kremlin’s intention to keep the occupied territories of Ukraine, but perhaps it also conceals the desire to take advantage of the situation to expand. It is indicative that the demands from the hawks’ camp in Russia for a final solution to the Ukrainian issue are becoming increasingly louder. Then there is the usual capitalist question of price: how much will it cost? The state of the Russian economy is not rosy. Let us look a...