Putin can lie and complain all he likes, but he has made Russia the West's 'enemy'
Only a fool would be lulled into complacency by Vladimir Putin’s attempts to play the victim
Vladimir Putin’s annual question-and-answer session is a marathon event requiring considerable stamina and a strong stomach, as he spends hours pretending to care about the concerns of ordinary Russian people.
However, it does give an insight into the alternative reality Putin has constructed to try to justify the campaign of mass murder that he calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
According to him, Ukraine is to blame for “unleashing the war”, a lie that Donald Trump has occasionally repeated, and President Volodymyr Zelensky and his fellow Ukrainians are at fault for “refusing to end this conflict using peaceful means" because they have the temerity to defend their country and refuse to submit to his despotic rule.
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Putin’s war
Asked by BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg whether he was planning any new “special military operations”, Putin gave a gangster’s reply: “There will be no operations if you treat us with respect...”
Putin complained about suggestions that Russia might attack another European country, saying the West was “creating the image of an enemy, and they are making Russia the enemy”.
However, it was Putin himself who made Russia “the enemy” when he ordered the unprovoked invasion of another country, first seizing Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014, and then in the full-scale attack in 2022.
Only a fool would be lulled into complacency by this tyrant’s attempts to play the victim and, as many leading defence figures have warned, Europe must urgently increase its military spending to ensure we are strong enough to deter an attack.
READ MORE: Trump’s wrong, Russia is eminently beatable but UK needs to end its isolationist approach
Rigged elections
There are plenty of Russians who know full well what Putin really is and some of the public’s messages shown on screens during the Q&A appeared to have slipped through the censors undoubtedly at work behind the scenes.
One complained about “crazy” inflation, another asked “when will we start living well and without deception?”, and a third wrote: “Looking at the way life is in our country, it's strange that UR [Putin’s United Russia party] keeps getting the majority of votes. Maybe elections are rigged?"
We may not be at war – yet – but make no mistake, the power-mad, blood-soaked, warmongering dictator in the Kremlin is our enemy.
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