Putin's Regime is 'Cracking' as Elites Panic: Former U.S. Ambassador

An argument on Russian state television is a "good sign" that the country's leadership is cracking, according to a former U.S. ambassador.

Russia has threatened to nationalize assets of Western companies that have pulled resources from the country following its invasion of Ukraine, according to a Voice of America English News article. Hundreds of companies have already left Russia after expressing dissatisfaction with the war, and if the country continues to nationalize its resources, one pundit is concerned more economic damage will be done.

They argued against nationalization in a clip of Russian state television circulating around Twitter on Wednesday. Russian state TV guests have increasingly expressed concern about the war, such as admitting Russia wasn't prepared and accidentally revealing, while on a hot mic before the information was made public, that Russia was using Iranian drones.

The most recent clip, which has nearly 1 million views, shows the pundit arguing with fellow television guests about the impact of nationalization. The nearly 1-minute clip shows the speaker growing more exasperated as he talks.

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said the televised segment signals weakness in Russia's regime.

"That this can be said on national television is a good sign. The regime is cracking. The elite is panicking," he tweeted.

During the clip, the pundit argued Russia could lose plenty of resources if it were to nationalize.

The pundit said Russia's Sapsans, high-speed electric express trains, would "stop tomorrow" if the country nationalizes. The Sapsans are manufactured by Siemens, which is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Other companies, such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and German-based Mercedes-Benz, have already withdrawn from Russian markets.

"What are we going to ride on?" the pundit said. "There is nothing to drive on, we just have to accept that.

"Of course, it's easy to stand on an armored car saying, 'let's nationalize everything'," he said, criticizing the Russian military's stance.

The pundit argued that if Russia nationalizes its resources, Russian citizens will not have cars to drive or phones to make calls on.

"What are we going to do?" he asked. "Everything we have is Western."

The clip had a Ukrainian advisor critiquing Russia's approach to the war.

"Russia is suddenly realizing that they depend completely on Western technologies," tweeted Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, while sharing a clip of the video. "'If we nationalize everything, we'll have nothing to drive, nothing to make calls with...' Did you want to kill people and at the same time use Western technologies and vacation in Europe?"