Russian officials condemn Ukraine invasion?

From Instapundit:

WELL: More than 150 senior Russian officials sign open letter condemning Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as ‘an unprecedented atrocity’ and warn of ‘catastrophic consequences’ while urging citizens ‘not to participate.’ “The deputies said they were ‘convinced’ Russian citizens do not back the war and blamed Putin ‘personally’ for ordering troops into Ukraine in an attack ‘for which there is no and cannot be justification’. . . . It was a surprising step for Russian officials to speak out against Putin, who usually holds an iron grip on dissent and last week televised a meeting with Moscow’s top security chiefs in which they appeared to be railroaded into backing his plans to invade Ukraine.”

For this to happen at all is an indication that Putin is seen as weak.

Speaking of weakness: I remember seeing the news a while back that Putin, who practices judo (and why not his native sambo?), was defeated on the mat by a young woman. Perhaps the vultures are circling Putin as much as they're circling our own dementia-addled numbskull?

ADDENDUM: Russia is ramping up rhetoric and apparently reposturing for a potential nuclear exchange. With whom? With European countries, I guess. I don't see why Putin skipped right to the nuclear option when he could have just closed the valves to all the gas being piped from Russia to Western Europe. That's still an option, I'd say.