This bold appearance shows that there is no longer any room for existing national borders and international law in the image of Kremlin despot Vladimir Putin. He lives in the past, talks about “Russian soil”!
His role model: Peter the Great!
At the opening of an exhibition on the 350th birthday of the tsar, Putin enthused about his battle successes against Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700 to 1721), in which Russia fought for supremacy in the Baltic region.
Peter did not conquer the area around today’s St. Petersburg from the Swedes, but “won it back”. This is “apparently our lot too,” Putin drew a cynical comparison to the war of aggression against Ukraine, which he regards as a historic part of Russia.
To then brag unabashedly: “Yes, there have been times in our country’s history when we have been forced to retreat – but only to regain our strength and move forward.”
PUTIN, THE WANNA-BIG! Obviously, the warmonger revels in crude fantasies of omnipotence.
The problem: Almost no one contradicts him anymore. Putin’s propaganda poison is too deep in the minds of the Russians. Invasion plans for the Baltic republics are being discussed on state TV, even taking the Swedish island of Gotland. And THAT in a country that was still modern and cosmopolitan in 2018 when it hosted the World Cup.
Especially in the sights of the Kremlin hawks: Lithuania. A deputy from Putin’s United Russia party wants to “challenge” the country’s secession because Moscow’s recognition of independence (1991) was said to have been “illegal”.
of Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis (40) takes the provocations seriously and warned in BILD: “The sovereignty of a country can be called into question, our territory can be occupied.” The situation has been similar in Finland since a video appeared showing the transport of missiles points to the Finnish border.
The government in Helsinki has also recently feared that Moscow could smuggle migrants across the border in order to destabilize the country. As soon as possible, the authorities said, a “robust fence with a barrier effect” is to be built – 1,300 kilometers in length.
Finns and Sweden are pushing into NATO
With a diplomatic offensive, Sweden is trying to speed up its application for NATO membership in mid-May, which is being blocked by Turkey. “Sweden will contribute to the security of NATO as a whole, including Turkey,” said Foreign Minister Ann Linde yesterday.
And: Your country condemns terrorism in the strongest possible terms. Background: Turkish President Edogan accuses Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish “terrorist organizations”. At the beginning of the week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (63) is expected in both countries.