Vladimir Putin Speech 30 September 2022 - Signing Of Treaties Admitting The DNR, The LNR, And The Zaporozhia And Kherson Regions To The Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin Speech 30 September 2022 - Signing Of Treaties Admitting The DNR, The LNR, And The Zaporozhia And Kherson Regions To The Russian Federation
“Dear citizens of Russia, citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, residents of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, deputies of the State Duma, senators of the Russian Federation! You know, referendums were held in Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhia and Kherson regions. Their results are summed up, the results are known. People have made their choice, an unambiguous choice.
Jealousy of Ukraine and its possible successes is an innate feature of post-Soviet power in Russia; it was also characteristic of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. But since the beginning of Putin’s rule, and especially after the Orange Revolution that began in 2004, hatred of Ukraine’s European choice, and the desire to turn it into a failed state, have become a lasting obsession not only for Putin but also for all politicians of his generation,” Navalny stresses.
He goes even further, acknowledging that “Control over Ukraine is the most important article of faith for all Russians with imperial views, from officials to ordinary people. In their opinion, Russia combined with a subordinate Ukraine amounts to a ‘reborn U.S.S.R. and empire.’ Without Ukraine, in this view, Russia is just a country with no chance of world domination. Everything that Ukraine acquires is something taken away from Russia.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine, Navalny continues, has raised “Putin’s approval rating by super-mobilizing the imperially minded part of society. The news agenda is fully consumed by the war; internal problems recede into the background: ‘Hurray, we’re back in the game, we are great, they’re reckoning with us!’”
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The Russian oppositionist realizes that “The war with Ukraine was started and waged, of course, by Putin, trying to solve his domestic political problems.” But here he makes an important point: “the real war party is the entire elite and the system of power itself, which is an endlessly self-reproducing Russian authoritarianism of the imperial kind. External aggression in any form, from diplomatic rhetoric to outright warfare, is its preferred mode of operation, and Ukraine is its preferred target.”
Russia’s “self-generated imperial authoritarianism is the real curse of Russia and the cause of all its troubles,” he concludes.
Navalny ends his unexpectedly forthright and penetrating thoughts about the dangerous perennial Russian malaise and how it should be treated with the following advice and prescription:
“While I commend European leaders for their ongoing success in supporting Ukraine, I urge them not to lose sight of the fundamental causes of war. The threat to peace and stability in Europe is aggressive imperial authoritarianism, endlessly inflicted by Russia upon itself…. Only a parliamentary republic can prevent this. It is the first step toward transforming Russia into a good neighbor that helps to solve problems rather than create them.”
Jealousy of Ukraine and its possible successes is an innate feature of post-Soviet power in Russia; it was also characteristic of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. But since the beginning of Putin’s rule, and especially after the Orange Revolution that began in 2004, hatred of Ukraine’s European choice, and the desire to turn it into a failed state, have become a lasting obsession not only for Putin but also for all politicians of his generation,” Navalny stresses.
He goes even further, acknowledging that “Control over Ukraine is the most important article of faith for all Russians with imperial views, from officials to ordinary people. In their opinion, Russia combined with a subordinate Ukraine amounts to a ‘reborn U.S.S.R. and empire.’ Without Ukraine, in this view, Russia is just a country with no chance of world domination. Everything that Ukraine acquires is something taken away from Russia.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine, Navalny continues, has raised “Putin’s approval rating by super-mobilizing the imperially minded part of society. The news agenda is fully consumed by the war; internal problems recede into the background: ‘Hurray, we’re back in the game, we are great, they’re reckoning with us!’”
00:00 / 08:46
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The Russian oppositionist realizes that “The war with Ukraine was started and waged, of course, by Putin, trying to solve his domestic political problems.” But here he makes an important point: “the real war party is the entire elite and the system of power itself, which is an endlessly self-reproducing Russian authoritarianism of the imperial kind. External aggression in any form, from diplomatic rhetoric to outright warfare, is its preferred mode of operation, and Ukraine is its preferred target.”
Russia’s “self-generated imperial authoritarianism is the real curse of Russia and the cause of all its troubles,” he concludes.
Navalny ends his unexpectedly forthright and penetrating thoughts about the dangerous perennial Russian malaise and how it should be treated with the following advice and prescription:
“While I commend European leaders for their ongoing success in supporting Ukraine, I urge them not to lose sight of the fundamental causes of war. The threat to peace and stability in Europe is aggressive imperial authoritarianism, endlessly inflicted by Russia upon itself…. Only a parliamentary republic can prevent this. It is the first step toward transforming Russia into a good neighbor that helps to solve problems rather than create them.”
With this new powerful piece in the