2023-09-12 18:07:13
XAVIER COLS
Musk
Updated Tuesday, September 12, 2023 – 18:07
Russian president says he expects a long war and rejects a ceasefire
Vladimir Putin delivers a speech at the Eastern Economic Forum 2023 in Vladivostok.PAVEL BEDNYAKOVSPUTNIKKREMLIN/EFERusia Putin consolidates his regional power amid allegations of fraud
The Russian president is preparing for a long war in ukraine. His vision of a future end to the fighting fits rather with a scenario prepared for the russian victory: “Only when Ukraine is exhausted in terms of men, equipment and ammunition will it be able to talk about peace.”
Vladimir Putin does not envision an armistice now. He believes kyiv could use any ceasefire to “replenish its resources and renew the combat capability of its armed forces” and that Washington will continue to view Russia as a enemy It doesn’t matter who wins the 2024 US election, Putin said at an economic forum in the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok.
According to his reasoning, Russia can hardly stop fighting when faced with a counteroffensive Ukrainian. For there to be any chance of talks, Putin said, Ukraine would first have to lift its self-imposed legal ban on peace talks and explain what it wants: “Then we’ll see,” Putin said.
The Russian leader criticized the West’s decision to supply Ukraine F-16 aircraft and any possible US supplies of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS). But Putin announced that regardless of who wins the american elections next year, he does not expect any change in Washington’s policy towards Russia: “US authorities perceive Russia as an existential enemy.” He even talked about the prosecution in the United States of the former president Donald Trump: He believes that it was politically motivated and that this demonstrated the “rottenness” of the American political system.
His words come shortly before his meeting with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Putin explained that the West is trying to dissuade China from having close relations with Russia, but that these attempts have failed since ties with Beijing are at an unprecedented level.
Partially isolated since its large-scale invasion, Russia has given a turn towards Asia. Putin admitted that this turn was accelerated by the war and the West’s attempt to contain the Russian economy.
Putin praised his central bank for keeping inflation in check with double-digit interest rates and noted that there were no insurmountable challenges when it came to limiting the ruble’s volatility. The Russian leader, who faces presidential elections in March next year, took advantage of his speech at the Russian Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok to project an environment of financial calm, a few weeks after the fall of the ruble beyond 100 to the dollar provoked criticism from the Kremlin of the bank’s monetary policy. Speaking to businessmen from around the country, he promised that there would be no sudden measures to limit the volatility of the ruble for now.
IN PRAGUE BAD, IN kyiv GOOD.
Looking back, Putin also noted that the decision of the Soviet Union Sending tanks to Hungary and Czechoslovakia to crush mass protests during the Cold War “was a mistake.” The president gave his point of view on the perception of Russia as a colonial power due to Moscow’s decision to send tanks to Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968.
Both interventions have similarities with the Russian attack on kyiv last year The Hungarian uprising of 1956 was crushed by tanks and Soviet troops with a bloody outcome. The Prague Spring of 1968 was an attempt at openness, within socialism that Moscow saw as an open door to Western influence. The process ended when Soviet forces invaded the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia.
The so-called special military operation in Ukraine has caused the biggest war in Europe since World War II, in addition to a wave of repression in Russia never seen in this century. Putin joked about that when he spoke of “160 or 170” people from the cultural sector who have left the country: “They have gone abroad; they do not agree with the policy of the Russian state. But you can disagree and be here.” and talking about it, no one forbids it. But some decided to leave.” In reality, the mere criticism of the war has led to the erasure of various artists in Russia and there are several people prosecuted in Russia for “discrediting the army” for the mere fact of not repeating the lies of the Russian government, such as that it is not attacking the civilian population or that there are many Russians who do not want to fight in this war that Moscow does not dare to call by its name
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