 Putin is leading his country into a dark forest from which it may never emerge. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Staffordus warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is leading his country into a dark forest from which it may never emerge. Staffordus, a retired US Navy admiral, retweeted a video from a New Year special that aired on Russian state TV. The clip depicts a singer performing alongside several dancers in color for garb, with the camera occasionally cutting to the audience where Russian military personnel are seen clapping to the rhythm. Staffordus then compared the video with other New Year celebrations unfolding across the world. A sad contrast to thousands around the world, from fireworks in Sydney Harbor to the crystal ball dropping in Times Square celebrating a new year with real joy. Putin continues to lead Russia into a dark forest from which it may never emerge. Meanwhile, Newsweek reported that former Russian military commander Igor Gurkin had credited Ukraine's recent successes against Russian troops due to sloppiness on part of the Kremlin. Putin's forces have suffered embarrassing defeats since the Russian leader launched his invasion of the Eastern European country last February. The Russian-Ukraine war has attracted scathing condemnation from various international leaders from the start. In the past, Staffordus has also slammed both Russia's strategy and its military equipment's bad design. He re-tweeted a post from Julia Davis, a columnist for The Daily Beast, who also created the watchdog project, Russian Media Monitor. New Year Special on Russian State TV was creepy and surreal, Davis tweeted, along with the video of the Russian New Year Special, top pro Kremlin propagandists were seated alongside military guests, whose presence was sure to remind the audience that at that very moment, Russia is bombing Ukrainian cities and soldering civilians next door. Rather than targeting infrastructure, the last mass missile attacks deliberately took aim at residential areas, per Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Kulev. He tweeted that Putin was celebrating the beginning of 2023 by killing people.