Putin takes office for his fifth presidential term

Moscow. The Kremlin does not renounce dialogue with Western governments, but they “have to choose: they are going to continue trying to contain Russia’s development, continue their policy of aggression and putting pressure on our country for years or they are going to take the path of cooperation and peace,” its head, Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday.

He offered it during the brief speech he gave after taking office as president of Russia for a fifth six-year term, the first since he reformed the Constitution four years ago to be able to seek re-election two more times.

“I insist – Putin continued – dialogue, including on issues of security and strategic stability, is possible. But not from positions of strength, without any type of arrogance, arrogance and exclusivity, only on an equal footing, respecting the interests of the other.”

He assured that Russia is open to strengthening relations with “all countries that see the Russian Federation as a reliable and sincere partner, and are in fact the vast majority of the world.” She noted that together with her Eurasian integration allies and other sovereign development centers “we will continue to contribute to shaping a multipolar world order and an equitable and indivisible security system.”

The chapter of his words dedicated to internal political affairs had a marked protocol character. Putin thanked the Russians for the trust placed in him and promised to “continue to serve the people and make the Russian Federation greater and more powerful.”

He concluded: “We are a great and united nation, and together we will overcome all obstacles, we will achieve everything planned, and together, we will win,” but he did not directly mention winning the war in Ukraine.

The inauguration ceremony, tailor-made for its protagonist, took place in the Grand Palace of the Moscow Kremlin, where nearly 5,000 guests – members of the ruling elite and the diplomatic corps, except the ambassadors of the United States and a twenty countries of the European Union that did not want to attend –, distributed in several rooms, they watched, while they gave him standing applause, a solitary Putin who was heading towards the San Andrés room.

There, the president of the Constitutional Court, Valeri Zorkin, proclaimed him head of state, after Putin pronounced the presidential oath with one hand on the Magna Carta. After giving his brief speech, the president received, in the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin, the honors of the presidential guard that paraded in front of him.

And as part of the ceremony, Putin attended a mass for himself in one of the temples, officiated by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, who blessed his new presidential administration.

Immediately afterwards, as established by the Constitution, the entire Russian government presented its resignation and until the new Cabinet is formed, all its members, led by the Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, will continue to serve.

The Duma or Chamber of Deputies scheduled the ratification of the new composition of the government for Friday, May 10, and it is expected that there will be several removals of portfolio holders and deputy prime ministers, although not all analysts are clear if Mishustin will remain.

Some are convinced that Mishustin is the ideal candidate to now head the government, but others are betting that the new prime minister – by simple chance among the most mentioned candidates – will be called Sergei (Sergio).

And they maintain that Sergei Kiriyenko, in charge of internal politics in the Office of the President and who already served as head of government under President Boris Yeltsin, or Sergei Sobianin, former head of the same presidential body where they are configured, could surprise. state policies and current mayor of Moscow.

It is also not clear whether the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, will continue after the arrest of his protégé Timur Ivanov for a corruption scandal, although there are political scientists who believe that at this stage of the “special military operation” it would not be advisable to change the incumbent. of the portfolio in charge of it.

Plan to assassinate Zelensky

The SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), through a statement, announced this Tuesday that it dismantled a network that planned to assassinate President Volodymir Zelensky, the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the SBU himself, Vasyl Maliuk, and others. senior Ukrainian officials.

“The network of agents, coordinated by the FSB (Federal Security Service) from Moscow, included two colonels from the State Administration Security (SAE, the body responsible for the protection of Ukrainian leaders), who passed secret information to Russia,” the statement said.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, accuses the SAE colonels, detained by SBU counterespionage, of committing the crimes of high treason and terrorism. One of them, according to the prosecutor’s version, “received from the FSB two drones and ammunition that he had to deliver to third parties to carry out the attacks against the leaders.”

The surrender took place in Ukrainian territory, according to recordings of alleged conversations that the detainee had with his FSB contact, released by the SBU. “The enemy wanted to recruit members of President Zelensky’s security team to kidnap and kill him,” Ukrainian authorities assert.