St. Petersburg
Putin irritates with “patriot shootings” and insults Zelenskyj as “disgrace to the Jewish people”
Vladimir Putin at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg
© Imago Images
Vladimir Putin cares less and less about what countries unfriendly to Russia think of him. At the economic forum in St. Petersburg he made disparaging remarks about arms control and called Volodymyr Zelenskyy anti-Semitic.
Within three days, Vladimir Putin made another public appearance and again he made irritating statements. The details of the alleged Ukrainian losses were bizarre, for example. At the economic forum in St. Petersburg, the head of the Kremlin claimed that the Russian military had “destroyed five Patriot systems.” But the Ukraine has only two such systems, one of which comes from Germany. As was the case after his meeting with military bloggers and pro-war advocates on Wednesday, many observers questioned whether the Russian president is ill-informed, out of touch with reality, provocative, or just plain lying.
Russia: false statements and exaggerations
The latter would not be unusual, at least in times of war, even if Russia has been conspicuous since the beginning of the invasion with military false statements or exaggerations. Seen in this way, Putin’s statement that Ukraine’s counter-offensive “didn’t achieve its goals at any point” should be treated with the greatest caution. From Kiev, on the other hand, it is said that smaller land gains have been achieved, which is also seen by international observers. However, it is still too early to judge the success or failure of the long-awaited counter-offensive.
Putin also attracted attention with his threats about the possible use of F-16 fighter jets: If the machines are stationed outside of Ukraine, then the Russian side will “see how and where we destroy these assets,” said the Kremlin chief. A little later, however, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov backtracked and said that Russia would attack the jets if they were delivered on Ukrainian territory.
“Fuck it, you know how we say it?”
Putin commented on the status of nuclear arms control in crude terms: “We have more such weapons than the NATO countries,” said the Russian president. “They know that and are constantly urging us to start talks about reductions,” the Kremlin chief continued – and then added: “Fuck it, you know what we say among the people.” Here, too, Kremlin spokesman Peskov had to qualify the statements: “Russia is ready to conduct negotiations,” he assured.
He commented on Volodymyr Zelenskyj in a downright abusive manner: “I have had many Jewish friends since my childhood. They say: ‘Zelenskyj is not a Jew. That is a shame for the Jewish people’.” He earned applause for this statement from the audience, which included many politicians loyal to the Kremlin and the heads of several Ukrainian territories annexed in violation of international law. Moscow repeatedly justifies its war of aggression against the neighboring country with the propaganda claim that Ukraine must be rid of alleged “neo-Nazis”. Such statements also cause great horror internationally because Zelenskyj is of Jewish descent.
“Genocide” against the Ukrainian people
It has been proven that Holocaust survivors were among the many thousands of victims of Russian attacks in Ukraine. In view of the worst atrocities, such as the murder of hundreds of civilians in Bucha, there is repeated talk of a Russian “genocide” against the Ukrainian people.
Sources: DPA, AFP, “Kyiv Independent” on Twitter