Russian regime leader Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s speech proves that Russia will not surrender under his leadership and that he is ready to continue military operations in Ukraine even with heavy losses, explains associate professor of Riga Stradins University (RSU ) Māris Andžans.
Anjan, which is also a company Geopolitical Research Center director, pointed out that traditionally Putin delivered his address to the nation alone with the Kremlin in the background, but this time there were uniformed people standing behind the Russian president. According to the professor, in his New Year’s speech, Putin indirectly said that the “special military operation” is a war for Russia and against the West in general, where Ukraine is used.
The Russian president said 2022 was a year of “difficult and necessary” decisions, in which significant steps were taken for Russia to “fully regain its sovereignty” and unite society. Andzhan noted that Putin’s “recovery” of Russian sovereignty raises questions, because Putin himself has been Russia’s president since 1999, with a small break planned.
“What recovery of sovereignty can we talk about?! He was the president of Russia for a long time, but he could not achieve this sovereignty before?! Looking at Putin’s speech, I think there is no place for irony or sarcasm .
The speech has to be taken very seriously because there are people in uniform in the background.
This points to further militarization of Russia and the fact that this war is a serious matter for Putin,” the RSU associate professor said.
Andzhan emphasized: it follows from the speech that the war in Ukraine is presented as an all-Russian mission. According to the director of the Geopolitical Research Center, Putin stresses that every Russian citizen must be part of the “special military operation” and no other opinions will be tolerated. This message was reinforced by the people in uniform behind the Russian president.
“Sometimes Russia is not properly appreciated in various countries. We know a lot about Ukraine’s success, but less about Russia’s relative success. The Russian economy somehow keeps going, despite the fact that there are almost no brands westerners in the country,” said the RSU associate professor.
He explained that Turkey is involved not only as an intermediary in trade with Russia, but that Russia receives the missing armaments from Iran, possibly also from North Korea. According to Anjan, attention should be paid to the seriousness with which Putin talks about the “special military operation” and the symbolic message, as well as the fact that the Russian president “presses on the emotions of the country’s residents” in his speech.
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