Bluffing appears to be a sort of cultural trait in Russia. This can be traced throughout its history and remains so today. One can think of numerous examples. Russian-made tanks and missiles are advertised as all-powerful, while Russian officials clamor to use nuclear weapons. Russia cannot even produce a decent car, yet it wants the world to believe that the industries in the world depend on it to survive. The logic of Russia talking about the territory of other countries is basically fixed, which can be summed as “what is yours is mine, and what is mine is still mine”.

In Russian universities for senior diplomats, there are even courses dedicated to training the officials on how to speak. Hence, Russian diplomats are particularly good at using civilized vocabulary to express rogue demands. However, with Russia's substantial defeat on the Ukrainian battlefield, this "era of bluff" in Russia is coming to an end. In fact, even countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the ex-Soviet Union members that Russia considers to be its allies, show dissatisfaction with it, to the point of criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin right on his face.

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17 this year, the Kazakh President did just that, not only on Putin’s face but also in front of many heads of state for the irresponsible and ridiculous remarks made by some Russians against Kazakhstan.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that “using this rostrum ... I would like to take an issue with some statements of a few Russian parliamentarians, absolutely incorrect statements about Kazakhstan, inaccurate statements from, so to speak, journalists and even people of the arts”. Although it was an event that took place in Russia, even hosted by Putin himself and in the presence of leaders of China and other countries, Tokayev was bold to express his opposition to the war in Ukraine. This has embarrassed the Russians and made Putin rather uneasy. But Tokayev knew what he was doing. He knew that Putin has become weak, and Putin did in fact look agitated at that time.

It is said that after the incident, Putin was furious, but there is nothing that he can do, other than having some “problems” with the energy pipeline to Kazakhstan for a few days.

It is not just Kazakhstan that dares to challenge Putin now. After all, Kazakhstan is a major power in Central Asia. Even smaller countries are disregarding Putin now.

The recently concluded Central Asia-Russia Summit between the CIS countries. At this meeting, Putin recalled the era of the Soviet Union and attempted to use it to enhance the "traditional friendship" of the CIS countries. Unexpectedly, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon publicly rebuked Putin.

According to media reports, on October 14, at the summit held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, Rahmon suddenly lashed out at Putin, bluntly asking him not to pursue a Soviet-like policy toward the Central Asian countries.

Rahmon compared the Kremlin's current attitude towards the Central Asian countries to that of the former Soviet Union, asking Putin not to repeat the same mistakes. "We witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union with you. As now, we witnessed that there was no attention to small republics, small peoples. Traditions and customs were not taken into account”, Rahmon is quoted to say, apparently quite dissatisfied with the Soviet Union, with Russia, and with Putin now. For these CIS countries, the Soviet era has completely passed, and each of the current CIS countries is an independent country. They can only talk about cooperation, not who leads whom. Their thinking has been completely transformed, and in essence, they would agree that Putin has been beaten by Ukraine and should stop bluffing with them.

The reality of Russia is grim, and the image of Russia and Putin in the CIS countries has plummeted due to Russia's substantial defeat in Ukraine. In the past, because of economic reasons and because of the relationship between big and small nations, they had to consider retaining some dignity for Putin, and at that time when Putin wanted a meeting, they would need to show up. Yet if Putin still wanted to create a situation of "unity and common prosperity", then that would be an unthinkable scenario.

In today's situation, everyone can see Russia's weak national strength despite of its bluffs. No one buys these bluffs anymore, and there is nothing that Russia can do but accept the humiliation.

The era where Russia could bluff is over. The era when Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s words were influential too is over. Those who have not realized that the times have changed under the counterattacks of Ukraine should adapt quickly, lest their ending would be bleak.