So true Russia also has a demographic issue especially ethnic Russians. Russians also fear more Non Ethnic Russians living in Russia like the Chechens, Buryats, Yakuts, Tuvans, Tatars, Azerbaijanis and Georgians hence why most are getting conscripted into the meat grinder.
It is difficult to ascertain what is going on in Russia (data are withheld by the state, data falsified by the state etc) but it looks like there is currently an acute shortage of labour, depressing the viability of Russian industry. If the economy does not enter severe recession, due to many enterprises going bankrupt and halting their activities (which require labour), more labour is needed from countries other than Russia.
If Russians are xenophobic, too bad. If they want an economy that functions they will have to put with up with undesirable non-Russians living among them. Personally I hope that Russians won't have to put up with that. Their economy is currently being wrecked by Putin's war. As the economy goes down, the need for immigrant labour should also go down.
To me what would best prevent Russia invading neighbouring states would be if Russia were so weak financially and industrially that it did not have the means to wage war against any other state. As it happens, that is exactly the direction in which the tyrant in control of the place is taking his country. So, keep up the good work, Vladimir! It is in the long term interest of your neighbours and the rest of the world.
PS This extract from an article in the UK 'Financial Times' suggests that Putin is in deep trouble due to the financial problems he has caused by invading Ukraine.
Putin, in short, does not have time on his side. He sits on a ticking financial time bomb of his own making. The key for Ukraine’s friends is to deny him the one thing that would defuse it: greater access to external funds.
The west has blocked Moscow’s access to some $300bn in reserves, put spanners in the works of its oil trade and hit its ability to import a range of goods. Combined, these prevent Russia from spending all its foreign earnings to relieve resource constraints at home. Intensifying sanctions and finally transferring reserves to Ukraine as a down payment on reparations would intensify those constraints.
Putin’s obsession is the sudden collapse of power. That, as he must be realising, is the risk his war economics has set in motion. Making it recede, by increasing access to external resources through sanctions relief, will be his goal in any diplomacy. The west must convince him that this will not happen. That, and only that, will force Putin to choose between his assault on Ukraine and his grip on power at home.
The financial underpinnings look increasingly fragile
www.ft.com
Who knows, Trump might take steps to intensify Putin's weakness and increase pressure on Russia. A continuation of US support for Ukraine, so a continuation of hostilities and Kremlin spending on the war, would deny Russia any financial respite. Putin would be left in a position where a breakdown of the Russian economy would look more and more inevitable unless Russia, rather than Ukrraine, called for a ceasefire and 'peace talks'.
