A year after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the situation is twofold: the Russian army is bogged down and Vladimir Putin is repeating himself. On Tuesday, February 21, the Russian president delivered his long-awaited address to the nation – a long speech mixing diatribes with almost messianic accents and announcements evoking rather the monotony of a five-year plan.
According to the Russian Constitution, the event must take place once a year, within the walls of the Kremlin, in the presence of the political elite. Mr. Putin had allowed himself a sprain in 2022, by skipping the exercise. “Events follow a very rapid dynamic”he justified in December, seeming to mean that he was waiting for new developments before expressing himself.
What has happened since then? On the front, not much. After months of deadly assaults, Russian forces have still failed to take Bakhmout, the main holding point in eastern Ukraine. The Russian leader, however, managed to speak for nearly two hours, sometimes with great detail on secondary subjects, without expressing any judgment as to the situation on the front or evoking any specific objective. “We are going to solve the tasks facing us step by step, methodically”he only promised, adding: “It is impossible to beat Russia on the battlefield. »
A single major announcement
The only unexpected and large-scale announcement, the « suspension » of Moscow’s participation in the New Start treaty on nuclear disarmament. Signed in 2010, this treaty is the last bilateral agreement of its kind binding Russians and Americans, and is intended to limit their nuclear arsenals. Russia had already announced in early August suspending planned inspections of its military sites. Mr. Putin also called on the Russian forces to stand “ready to test nuclear weapons”in case the United States takes the first such initiative.
For the rest, the Russian president preferred to expound once again, at length, on “aggression” suffered by Russia and the misdeeds of the West. This bears, “full responsibility for the outbreak of the conflict, its escalation and the increase in the number of victims”as well as “the kyiv regime”. Mr. Putin’s logic is well known: Westerners, “after centuries of colonialism, hegemony and diktats”want “finish us once and for all” and try to do this “turn Ukraine into an anti-Russia”.
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