2024-08-07 23:22:37
Russia and several western countries, first of all the USA and Germany, have just carried out a large-scale exchange of prisoners, which has already been called the most significant since the Cold War. 16 political prisoners were brought to the West, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich and several prominent Russian opposition figures, including Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin. Putin, in turn, received 10 Russian spies and murderers captured in the West, first of all, agent Vadim Krasikov, who was imprisoned for life in Germany for murder. How both sides welcomed theirs at the highest political level is certainly not the only thing that stirs up reflections of the Cold War. There are many interesting and significant details in what happened, both from the point of view of the chosen time, form and content (and I don’t mean here only what has already been widely discussed throughout the weekend about what the three Russian oppositionists already managed to talk about in their first press conference in freedom). But the big question, which is also important for us, is certainly whether what happened is part of a bigger picture, or just coincidentally coincides with various signals that talks between Ukraine and Russia could start sometime in the foreseeable future, I am primarily referring to the recent Volodymyr Zelensky an interview with the French media about the preconditions for the possibility of such negotiations. What subtexts did you first see in what happened?
You know, this whole event has shaken the minds of international analysts, and I think the main question that stands above all of this right now is – who benefits? And now there is speculation as to who has gained more from this deal, who is the loser – the West or the East? And what does it mean, and in what way could it bring something in the future? Therefore, your wording is absolutely correct, however, in my opinion, there is a whole bunch of answers here, and I do not see any concrete or in any way verifiable answers at the moment.
Let’s perhaps start with what Putin has achieved – according to him and according to Russian propaganda. First of all, Putin has confirmed his status as a gang leader, because one of the main principles of all bandits and bandit regimes is not to hand over their own to law enforcement, and if the leader is able to do this, it raises his authority. Second, it was a signal to Putin’s oligarchs and everyone else that “I’m still very strong and I’m in control.” And thirdly, it was Putin’s clear signal that those silent or still hidden spies and their types, various agents of influence, etc. – “continue to act and according to orders, because, you see, I will not leave you, we do not leave ours”. And the fourth – Putin’s not even a promise, but actually a threat through all this, that “dear West and those who have created refuge there, do not think that I will not reach you, I have many such krasikovs, and such krasikovs act very cruelly in your democratic system on the “bullet in the forehead” principle, and this is the weakness of democracy that such totalitarian regimes exploit against democratic countries.
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