Moscow Ten minutes late, Vladimir Putin started his annual press conference on Thursday in front of a relatively small crowd in the Manezh exhibition center in Moscow, the 17th since 2001. Only 507 journalists who had been tested three times had been admitted. The most important foreign policy issues, Ukraine and Russia’s relationship with the West, only came up after a while. But it was by far the most emotionally discussed set of questions by Putin at the PC.
In response to questions about torture in Russian prisons – for example, brutal rape videos had been published in recent months – the Kremlin chief showed open disinterest, declared this to be a “global problem” and advocated a calm investigation of the individual cases. When asked about the future of Ukraine and how to deal with the West, however, Putin reacted sharply and expressively.
The Kiev leadership has tried twice to resolve the Donbass question militarily. “One gets the impression that a third military operation is being prepared and that Russia is being warned from the outset not to interfere,” he said of the current crisis. However, regardless of all sanctions, Russia must react if the Ukrainian leadership suppresses the pro-Russian population in the east of the country.
“The future of Donbass must be decided by the residents of the region” and Russia will act as a mediator, stressed Putin, thus allowing a possible separation of the region in the interpretation. The question of whether he was ready to give the order to shoot he left unanswered, instead addressing it in the usual manner to the government in Kiev, which would shoot “its own people”.
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The Kremlin chief did not want to give any guarantees against a Russian invasion either. Instead, he demanded security guarantees from the West and this “quickly and now”. Moscow believes that these security guarantees should also document Russian law in Crimea.
Russia had been betrayed
Especially when analyzing Russia’s relations with the West, Putin revealed his deep bitterness and alienation towards the USA and its allies. Be it the accusation of “cancel culture”, the law on “foreign agents”, which Putin says is “much more liberal” in Russia than in the USA, or the scandal surrounding the Navalny poisoning, which Putin traditionally did not mention.
He spoke several times of the fact that Russia had been “betrayed”. For example, when Russia tried to build a partnership in the 1990s, the West continued to do everything to weaken and fragment Russia – an allusion to the Chechen war.
Allianz also lied to Russia about NATO’s eastward expansion and, contrary to promises to the contrary, has since carried out five rounds of expansion. Therefore Moscow will no longer be fobbed off with verbal promises.
The Kremlin chief praised the reaction from Washington to the Russian ultimatum as positive. He said he was satisfied that Russia had been assured of negotiations at the beginning of the year. Russia’s further course of action depends on the outcome of the negotiations, he added threateningly.
Putin tried to give the impression of strength.
(Photo: AP)
In the current gas crisis, Putin also put sole responsibility on Brussels. The high prices are due to the EU Commission’s turning away from long-term contracts. “You wanted market prices, now you have them,” the 69-year-old scoffed.
At the same time, he emphasized that Gazprom not only met its delivery conditions, but that Germany had even delivered ten percent more than was contractually guaranteed. Then he added the suspicion that the German energy companies had switched on the reserve operation of the Yamal-Europe pipeline in order to earn money from the difference between the long-term contracts and the spot prices instead of stabilizing the price for consumers.
Only those tested three times were admitted.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Overall, at the press conference, Putin tried once more to give the impression of strength and control. Economically, the country has put away the consequences of the Covid pandemic with growth of 4.5 percent in the current year. Compared to other leading economies, the Russian economy not only slumped less, it also recovered more quickly.
Although Putin had to admit that inflation was twice as high as planned at eight percent, he found the right comparison: In the USA, at six percent, it was three times as high as planned. He devalued social problems by referring to increased real incomes and pensions.
Even the fiasco with the vaccination campaign and the demographic problems resulting from the high excess mortality caused Putin to rebound with reference to “similar problems” in Europe. All in all, he gave his government a “satisfactory” testimony.
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