Putin is once again trying to intimidate the West
The speech by russian dictator vladimir putin at the “Valdai” Club, amplified by ru-propaganda, became another attempt to intimidate the West.
▫️putin once again repeated standard propaganda narratives: russia is allegedly peace-loving, but Europe’s elites spread “hysteria” about the russian threat; responsibility for prolonging the war in Ukraine lies with an “aggressive” Europe; the russian army is supposedly “relentlessly and confidently” advancing; the West allegedly uses Ukrainians as “expendable material,” and so on.
▫️At the same time, much of putin’s speech consisted of threats. He threatened to strike Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, to give “a very convincing response to the militarization of Europe,” and once again hinted at using the mythical “oreshnik” and russia’s most advanced nuclear weapons.
Moreover, with his joke about “not sending drones to Denmark anymore,” putin effectively admitted that it is indeed russian UAVs flying into Europe, despite moscow’s official denials.
The goal of putin’s propaganda performance is to create the illusion of russia’s invulnerability and invincibility. However, reality is very different: over three years of war have undermined russia’s budget and economy, the fuel crisis shows how vulnerable russia is to strikes deep inside its territory, and advances on the frontline are possible only at the cost of enormous losses.
putin’s attempts to speak to the world exclusively in the language of fear once again prove that only increased pressure can stop the aggressor.
