The Democratic People's Republic of Tankiejerk

I distinctly remember the days just before the Russian invasion in a subreddit that is full of Russian bots. They were dismissing the potential Russian invasion as Western hysteria. And for once, I was inclined to agree because after the lies to invade Iraq, I was skeptical of CIA assessment. Moreover, it is utterly stupid to invade a group of people who historically hate their previous imperial masters. That's like Britain invading India and Ireland again and expecting the British to be welcomed in open arms.

But then the unthinkable actually happened-- Russia did invade. However, Ukrainians valiantly held themselves and embarrassed the Russians, and doing so to this day.

The Russian bots in the subreddit I mentioned have immediately gone quiet after the invasion and haven't posted for a couple of days. The anti-Kremlin posts during that time were not getting any push back. Like the actual Russian soldiers who were not informed that the invasion will actually happen, the bots and their handlers themselves were also surprised, and they were waiting for marching orders on what talking points to propagandise. The bots returned with precisely the talking points you just summarised. But at the same time with predictable pattern since then, Russian bots go quiet whenever Russia suffer embarrassing setbacks such as the Russian withdrawal from Kyiv, the 2022 Kharkov and Kherson liberation, Ukraine's invasion into Kursk, and now the destruction of Russia's fleet of bomber planes.