This is CBS Eye on the World with John Batchler.

Here's John Batchler.

Wall Street Journal headline, Ukrainian counteroffensive pierces main Russian defensive line.

We leave the battlefield and travel to Russia.

Russia's opinion is profound, as I understand it, of how this war will end.

And I welcome Anatol Leven, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, who writes in the

Guardian, a glimpses of how Russia regards the Ukrainian conflict, NATO confrontation,

the US commitment to arm, as long as it takes the Ukrainian forces.

Anatol, a very good day to you.

Your Guardian essay has one great big metaphor that is deeply, historically Russian.

It's called the Time of Troubles, Capital T, Capital T.

What does that mean to Russia today?

Good day to you.

Hello, John.

Nice to be back.

The Time of Troubles originally referred to the period at the start of the 17th century,

after the end of the old Russian Muscovite ruling dynasty, which led to a period of civil

war and Swedish and Polish invasion, which was ended eventually by Russian popular resistance

and by the election in effect of the first Tsar of the Romanov dynasty.

That period of chaos and banditry and the fall of government and foreign intervention

has been used repeatedly in subsequent Russian history as a metaphor.

It was used by many commentators in Russia after the fall of the Russian Empire and the

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