“We have become stronger”: that is what lies behind Putin’s ‘great power’ speech

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Vladimir Putin (71) has his own unique view of things. The Russian president proved this again on Tuesday with a video message.

In his own words, the Kremlin chief once again sees Russia as a “great power” on the world stage. “We have become stronger,” he said in a 20-minute video message on Tuesday during the meeting of the so-called World Council of the Russian People, an organization under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church. Modern Russia has regained and consolidated “its sovereignty as a world power,” he said.

“The justification for war has changed”

Russia expert Ulrich Schmid (58) from the University of St. Gallen analyzed Putin’s speech for Blick. What struck him most was that the word “Ukraine” was not even mentioned. Instead, Putin spoke of “New Russia.”

And Schmid noticed something else. “The justification for war has changed. There was no longer any discussion of the original war objectives, namely the denazification of Ukraine.”

The West is to blame

Schmid also finds it remarkable that Putin, unlike church leader Kirill I (77), did not appear on site, but only participated via video. “A symbol of the distance between the president and Russian society,” analyzes the Eastern Europe expert. Putin tried to reduce this distance in his speech.

At the same time he called for Russian unity. “He explicitly mentioned the non-Russian peoples in the Russian Federation. There was extensive recruitment for the war in the constituent republics,” says Schmid.

This is Putin’s rhetorical strategy

And of course there was talk again about the evil West that wanted to destroy Russia. “The breakup of Russia is Putin’s very personal fear and is therefore a major topic in the text of the speech,” the Russia expert explains.

The Kremlin chief relied on his “classic rhetorical reversal strategy.” Says: It is not Russia that is in a bad position, but the West.

Putin described the West as internationally isolated. But according to Schmid, Russia in particular is isolated on the world stage, which causes dissatisfaction among the Russian elite. Therefore, Putin has been forced to turn to North Korea and Iran, and Russia has also weakened its position vis-à-vis China. Schmid about Blick: “Russia’s international alliances are opportunistic and do not create a community of values ​​like in the West.”

Source: Blick