The Kremlin had announced Vladimir Putin’s TV speech at short notice. In the evening, state television broadcast the ceremonial return of the Russian Olympians, flags were waved, winners were cheered, and the national anthem was sung. Putin could hardly have wished for a more visually stunning introduction to his speech, which was supposed to be about eastern Ukraine surrounded by Russian forces.
Hours before the broadcast, it was already clear that the Kremlin chief would recognize the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. This development alone was worrying enough, the recognition is taken as a sign that Putin no longer wants to wait for a diplomatic solution. But his speech turned out to be even more dramatic than expected, because it showed that the Kremlin chief is still concerned with something much more fundamental than the Donbass.
Putin is sitting at his desk in front of a familiar backdrop, becoming unusually emotional as he speaks. For about an hour he railed against Ukraine, the West and NATO. It’s a rant, his voice almost cracks when he portrays the neighboring country as practically a failed state – a state that, according to his interpretation, would not exist without Moscow and which, in its ingratitude, could be exploited by the West against Russia.
It ends with a direct warning: “We demand that those who have seized power in Kiev immediately stop fighting.” Otherwise, the “ruling regime” in Ukraine would be responsible for “a possible continuation of the bloodshed.” This was not a good sign because the Kremlin has been portraying the situation for weeks as if Ukraine were planning an attack on the separatist republics in Donbass. In fact, that same night Putin ordered troops to be sent to eastern Ukraine.
The West controls Ukraine, says Putin
In his speech, Putin goes a long way, beginning with a detailed historical digression: “modern Ukraine was created entirely and completely by Russia, or to be more precise, by Bolshevik, communist Russia.” He has made similar statements before, describing how the Bolsheviks allegedly donated Russian territory to Ukraine in the 1920s. Apparently he derives from this the right to demand Kiev’s loyalty to Moscow. Now Putin is saying that the Russian revolutionary leader Lenin was the “author and architect” of Ukraine.
Then, turning to Ukraine, he says: “You want decommunization? We are not against it. We are ready to show what real decommunization is.” It sounds like a threat.
He devoted the second part of his speech to the present and claimed that today’s Ukraine “never had its own statehood”. The Russian President has often indicated that he does not believe the Ukrainian government is capable of governing. Now he again put one unsubstantiated accusation after the next: Kiev would rob Moscow, not pay for gas supplies, and corruption was destroying “the entire system, all branches of power” in the neighboring country.
Putin not only claims that the West paid for the 2014 protests in Ukraine. The revolution of that time did not bring democracy to the country, but plunged it into an economic and social crisis. He does not mention that the war in eastern Ukraine, controlled from Moscow, has destabilized the country. He describes the government in Kiev as the “puppet regime” of the West. Not only does he steer all important personnel decisions in Kiev, but also Ukrainian courts and state-owned companies such as the energy company Naftogaz.
It is striking how little Putin talks about the Donbass itself
And of course, Putin claims, the West has long been using Ukraine militarily, and NATO already has bases in the country disguised as training missions. “The United States and NATO have shamelessly begun to open up the territory of Ukraine as a theater of possible combat actions,” Putin claims.
Putin now describes Ukraine’s NATO accession, which NATO believes will not be ready for years to come, as “a foregone conclusion.” With this accession, “the danger of a sudden attack on our country would increase many times over,” he warns TV viewers. With Western help, Ukraine could soon become a nuclear power, Putin claims.
Separatists in the city of Donetsk celebrate with fireworks and Russian flags that Vladimir Putin now wants to treat the Ukrainian region as a separate state.
(Photo: Alexei Alexandrov/AP)
It is striking how little Putin talks about the Donbass itself in his speech – and about the alleged genocide there, which he was still raving about during the joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. As expected, after the speech he signed two friendship treaties with the so-called “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have long been controlled from Moscow. After his speech, however, it is still frighteningly open how far Putin is willing to go.