‘The West has let their mask slip and revealed their true nature!’ That was Vladimir Putin’s message to a hall of vacant-looking officials at the Kremlin this afternoon. The Russian president gathered the great and the good of Russia to reveal the formal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaphorizhzhia and Kherson. But Putin’s audience in the hall would be forgiven for quickly losing sight of this. This was a speech aimed at Russia’s enemies in the West.
Putin justified the expansion of the Russian Federation by insisting that the four now-annexed Ukrainian territories had voted in favour of joining Russia: ‘This is the will of 20 million people’, he said. The inhabitants of this land had a ‘right’ to rejoin Russia based on a shared history going back to the times of ancient Rus, Catherine the Great and the Second World War, according to Putin.
Practically hopping with rage, Putin then turned to the problem of the West
Practically hopping with rage, Putin then turned to the problem of the West. ‘I want the government in Kyiv and their real western masters to hear me: the residents of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaphorizhzia and Kherson are becoming our citizens…for ever.’ This was both a warning and a boast: don’t mess with what will never be yours.
Russia would protect its new lands with ‘all the power and means available to it’, he said. Who is the bringer of war? Putin’s answer: the West. According to Putin, the West wants to ‘weaken and dismantle’ Russia, because it can’t get over the fact that Russia is a country rich in territory and natural resources. The West is the one who has left a trail of colonial poverty and destruction, according to Putin. The Western elite are ‘colonisers’, according to Putin, who said they are ‘racist because they are spreading Russophobia’.
At this point, Putin’s speech entered the realms of the incredible, exposing the degree of paranoia and delusion he appears to operate with. The leaders of the West are, apparently, actually ‘just puppets’ – presumably of the US, although he didn’t specify. They are under surveillance, bugged even in their homes, and ‘silently swallow this outrage’, he claimed. The US, he said, is ‘using the tragedy of (the Ukrainian) people for their own gain’. Putin also briefly touched on the Nord Stream gas pipes, which sprung leaks earlier this week in suspected Russian sabotage. The true culprits, Putin said, were the ‘Anglo-Saxons’: the Brits and Americans to you and me.
Putin then found time to mock the economic crises currently engulfing much of Europe. Westerners are being told to ‘eat less, wash less and dress up warmer at home’, but ‘you can’t heat people’s home with the lies you spread on social media’, he said. Next followed a brief tangent to attack the trans community: ‘Do we want to ram our kids’ heads full with the idea that, aside from men and women, there are other genders too?’ he asked.
Throughout his rambling speech, Putin’s officials looked uninspired by what they were hearing. His minions looked bleary eyed; more than one looked about to drop off for a nap. This reaction was perhaps not much of a surprise. Putin’s tangential attack on the West took up over 15 minutes of his speech, without a single mention of Ukraine or the territories being annexed. Finishing up, he said: ‘We have truth on our side, we have Russia!’ His officials, shaking off the drowsiness clearly enveloping them all, heaved themselves up into a standing ovation.
While technically a speech to celebrate the annexation of the Ukrainian territories, this address showed that, for Putin, the real adversary is the US. This was a declaration of increased hostilities with the West. While there was no direct mention of Russia’s nuclear weapons, the message was clear: to Putin, this conflict is now bigger than Ukraine.
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