Russia’s woes are mounting with high military spending leading to havoc in the economy with petrol queues, falling wages, redundancies, soaring prices and cripplingly high interest rates with a recent poll showing 81 per cent of Russians want the Ukraine war to end. It is estimated that between 400,000 and 450,000 Russian troops have been killed since the invasion, out of a total of 1.4 million casualties. The Ukrainian army has suffered between 125,000/150,000 fatalities with 525,000/625,000 casualties during the same period.
‘Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all US fatalities in all wars combined since World War Two.’ The ratio of Russian to Ukrainian casualties has likely risen to about eight to one in the first half of 2026. Russia’s spring-summer 2026 offensive has failed to achieve significant gains thus far and the rate of advance in June 2026 a fraction of that achieved in June 2025.
The drone blitz has led to 56 Russian regions enforcing fuel restrictions.
But the concern is that Putin may be pushed into deploying nuclear weapons, against the Ukrainian frontline and European nations lending their support. The tipping point would be the loss of the Crimea.
The Russia 8 December 1991 7.45 pm Moscow chart is showing major insecurity as of now with the Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Uranus, exact over coming months, which can sometimes lead to an explosive over-reaction to prop up machismo. Tr Pluto is conjunct the Saturn for a time of deprivation, hardship and an increasingly hard struggle running on till mid December this year. That is followed by Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Moon in 2027 hinting at an angry populace.
The Russia 8 November 1917 2.12 am Leningrad, Russia, chart was being rattled last month by tr Uranus square the Mars, and that returns on and off into spring 2027, bringing high insecurity and anger. 2027 will see an undermining tr Neptune square the Pluto; and the equally devastating tr Pluto opposition the Neptune on and off till late 2028. With worse by the turn of the decade as tr Pluto opposes the Saturn/Neptune midpoint and into the early 2030s is opposition the Saturn for hardship and square the Sun for forced changes.
If the start time is accurate there will be a sharp change of direction in 2027 with tr Uranus conjunct the Midheavan.
[Neptune Pluto is the hallmark of nuclear incidents.]Putin’s 5th Term chart, 7 May 2024, is not overly descriptive, though 2027 looks like failure year with tr Neptune conjunct the Mars.
His initial Presidency chart, 31 December 1999, is more illustrative – with a de-stabilising Solar Arc Uranus square Pluto now; a meltdown tr Pluto conjunct Neptune on and off till mid December this year. With a blocked in Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Sun this year until late on; and a confidence-denting 2027 from tr Saturn conjunct the Jupiter.
Putin’s dream of restoring Russia back to its former glory in the golden age of Catherine the Great, who ascended the throne as Pluto entered Capricorn in 1762 and remained at the helm through the Enlightenment until Pluto was nearing the end of its term in Aquarius in 1796.
Born 2 May 1729 2.30 am Stettin, Germany, she was a force to be reckoned with – a Sun Mars in Taurus sextile Saturn in Pisces was inconjunct a yod focal point Pluto. Putin seems a minnow beside her.
I know this isn’t exactly astrological, but I think it unlikely that for all his bluster, Putin would detonate a nuclear bomb on Ukraine or indeed anywhere else.
He, and everyone around him, knows perfectly well that it would look like a pathetic act of desperation, and that the inevitable equal retaliation would be swift, deadly and bring him no credit. Even the patriotic of Russians want to see their grandchildren grow up. The side who makes the first move is the one that can be blamed internationally for starting the nuclear war. The second mover won’t be blamed for retaliating. The second mover would also be spoilt for choice as to where to retaliate. As has already been seen, Russia doesn’t appear to have air supremacy.
There is also the practical point of where Putin would deliver the bomb. If the point of attacking Ukraine was to conquer it, and rule it, the area where the bomb goes off is going to be unliveable in, like Chenobyl, for a long time. It will be no use to anyone. What’s the benefit of destroying the land that you want to take over? The only benefit is to beat the Ukrainians into submission, as with bombing Kyiv, but that’s not going to work.
I’m sure he’d like to use it. Would his officials comply with his order? I suppose they might, but it’s a bit like signing your own death warrant.
Marjorie hasn’t talked about Putin’s own chart today, but at the moment, with his 1952 chart (if that is the right one), transiting Saturn is opposing his sun and he’s certainly not having a good time. When Uranus was transiting by conjunction his moon the other day, the conference in St Petersburg was taking place. The local power station was hit by drones and all the delegates could see the thick plumes of smoke over the city. While I would hesitate to say that the moon represents the “people” in a politician’s chart, it is noticeable that since Uranus went over his moon, there has been a great deal of internet activity by ordinary people in Russia, openly and bravely criticising the authorities. While Saturn and Pluto try to cover things up, and Neptune muddles things up, Uranus shines a bright light on things and reveals what had been obscure. Saturn and Uranus are going to continue to aspect Putin’s sun and moon for some months as they go back and forth. If you re-read Marjorie’s text above, it does look as though in a year’s time, Putin and Russia will both be under stress and something may well give way. If the attacks on Russian fuel continue, crops won’t be harvested, food will rot in the field and next year’s seeds won’t be sown. While fuel loss is bad, food loss is worse. Perhaps the Russians have silos full of spare grain and other foodstuffs, but they still have the problem of getting out to the people who need it – not easy with no fuel. Soldiers will munity if they don’t get food.
I suspect life will become so intolerable for ordinary people, and the inability of the government to do anything about it so obvious, that the country will collapse. Next year will be very interesting.
Crimea is effectively under siege from Ukraine, with most logistic routes cut or too dangerous to use. In theory, the Kerch Bridge (Putin’s pride and joy) is the only main route left open and Ukraine now has the armaments to put it out of commission. It is, however, an escape route for Russians who have moved to Crimea in the past decade and I suspect Ukraine leaves it open in order to encourage them to leave!
Marjorie, is the Saturn-Neptune conjunction still in effect (i.e. is Saturn still conjunct Neptune?)
I had expected the usual effect of the Saturn-Neptune conjunction to have occurred in Russia by now.
Is it running late or is it no longer in signs where they have an effect?
From my research, the effects seem to have started in 1880-81 and ended in either 1953 or 1989.
Can you have a look at whether there is a pattern to the signs that these conjunctions occurred in, and if that pattern has been broken by now?
Another interpretation of the effect could be that the country (Russia) gets radically redefined by that conjunction, which happened in 1881, 1917, 1953 (the deaths of Stalin and Lavrenty Beria) and 1989-90 (collapse of the Soviet Union).
Passing thought; I think that on each of these events and the year following, at least in 1917-18 (Finland and parts of Poland), 1953-4 (Crimea transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954) and in 1989-90 (the dissolution of the Soviet Union started), Russia lost territory.
I therefore expect Russia to lose territory either this year or next year, which will be in line with the Uranus conjunct Mid-heaven prediction above.
” The Russia 8 November 1917 2.12 am Leningrad, Russia, chart was being rattled last month by tr Uranus square the Mars, and that returns on and off into spring 2027″
Marjorie, given that the Mars on the 1917 chart is only 4 degrees away from the Moon, could tr Uranus also be considered square the Moon (the public/public mood)? Could that indicate unexpected changes/restlessness in the public mood?