“Denazification” is back: Putin is sending fatal signals to the West. Half a million people have been displaced in Myanmar since the end of October

Whenever Vladimir Putin talks about democracy, it sounds like a sarcastic joke to Western ears. A joke that isn’t actually funny. And sometimes the Russian president can’t help but smile. “We have democracy,” the 71-year-old said Thursday at his annual press conference as he answered a question from the audience.

The questions had to be submitted in advance and his spokesman Dmitry Peskov supported the moderation. The big Putin show was carefully staged by the Kremlin; After all, Russia is at war and the next presidential election will take place in a few months.

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The winner of the coming elections has actually already been determined: it is Putin, who has had the Russian constitution changed in order to be a candidate again. Despite the large production, the Putin show shows what inner political life in Russia currently looks like: In the last year of the war, things went badly for Russia and Putin literally disappeared from the scene. Now public appearances are taking place again and the Kremlin boss has the upper hand.

Above all, the press conference brings a bitter realization for Ukraine and its Western supporters: Putin will continue his war in Ukraine. He sees himself on the path to victory, but in the West he senses indecision – a weakness that the Kremlin boss hoped for. At least for now, it seems like his insidious plan might work in the end.

Putin sticks to war goals

This Thursday, Putin leaves no doubt that he is sticking to his war aims. “We will have peace when we achieve our goals,” the president explained. And these objectives remain unchanged: they are about the ‘demilitarization’ and ‘denazification’ of Ukraine.

In Russia these terms have been dropped this year. On the one hand, a survey commissioned by the Kremlin showed that the Russian population did not believe the story of a Nazi regime in Kiev. On the other hand, Russian leaders also seemed to have adjusted their war aims. For months, Moscow was only concerned with the minimum goal: the defense of the annexed territories, in violation of international law.

But Putin’s recent comments on demilitarization show that he is once again considering violent regime change in Kiev. This confidence is no coincidence, as the tide of war has turned in Russia’s favor in recent months.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive since the beginning of the summer has not yielded the hoped-for results for Kiev, as Putin noted several times this Thursday and even listed the number of tanks that the Russian army had destroyed. “Ukraine got everything the West promised – and even more,” Putin said. ‘We destroyed everything. This is demilitarization.”

“The boys are fighting really well, really great.”

Not a word about your own losses. Military experts agree that Putin burned masses of Russian soldiers and equipment during the battles for Bakhmut or Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, for example. Criticism also came from Russian military bloggers and parts of the Russian military.

But the Russian president is pursuing a treacherous strategy of attrition: Russia can compensate for its own loss of life better than Ukraine. In the medium term, this calculation seems to be working and is one of the reasons why Putin is slowly venturing back into the public eye.

It is rather macabre that during his press conference – also called ‘Wire to the People’ – Putin initially talks about unemployment figures and increased life expectancy in Russia. If thousands of people die at the front and the army enlists people against their will into military service, it should be clear that unemployment will also fall. Putin’s announced higher life expectancy is likely to be questionable at best, as thousands of Russians die in Ukraine and the Russian military does not publish casualty figures.

So it’s another big lie show from the Kremlin. “The boys are fighting great, really great,” Putin said, adding that further mobilization is not necessary at this time. According to him, 412,000 men will be fighting in Ukraine by the end of the year. Russia voluntarily recruited 486,000 recruits for the battle. In any case, there would be countless people volunteering every day.

However, observers in Russia noted last year that the waves of mobilization had never stopped. However, the entry into military service would have been secretive and small-scale. That would also make sense given the personnel needs at the front.

Western support for Ukraine is crumbling

But it is precisely in this war of attrition that Putin currently sees himself as having an advantage. In one question, a journalist summarized the Russian interpretation: “It is clear that Western states no longer want to support Ukraine.”

This is exactly what Putin is counting on to emerge from this war as a winner and without losing face. And winners are not seen as pariahs internationally; people are talking to them again. Ukraine can no longer produce anything itself and would get everything from abroad, Putin explains smugly. “The ‘free’ thing could be over soon.”

The Russian president is referring to the extensive aid package for Ukraine, which is currently blocked by the Republicans in the US. And the divisions in the European Union and the West’s inability to produce sufficient ammunition for Ukraine. Putin sees all this as weakness, even though he has converted his economy into war production.

Yet it is cynical when Putin talks about economic growth at his press conference. Of course, the Russian economy could be growing again at the moment, but that is not sustainable growth. The Russian economy produces war goods that are consumed or destroyed during the conflict. Ultimately, that says nothing about the stability of the Russian economy, even though Russia was actually able to deal with Western sanctions better than Western experts and even the Kremlin itself would have thought – as Putin emphasizes.

Putin sends veterans to schools

But in the end, it is not just the West that has to worry about a Putin drunk on victory. According to the Kremlin boss, Russian society is also facing “consolidation”. What this means is the violent conformity of the Russian public. Criticism of the leadership is not welcome; critics end up in prison camps or have to leave the country.

For this purpose, the Russian President used German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in his remarks. “Bismarck served in Russia before he became a great German statesman,” Putin explains. Bismarck said, “The war is not won by generals, but by teachers and priests.” An opinion that Putin shares. “Patriotic education is very important,” says the Russian president. That is why more and more war veterans are working in schools.

The indoctrination of Russia’s younger population will therefore continue to increase. As in the Soviet Union, hatred and distrust of the West are once again becoming a topic in schools, taught by soldiers partly traumatized by the violence at the front.

Democracy, opposition and public criticism. Putin keeps all this just for appearances. At the press conference, critical questions from Russians who criticize the constant propaganda or high food prices are shown in the background. The Kremlin apparently wants to show that anything can be said. But Putin will not face these questions, even this Thursday, when journalists carefully read their questions from cards.