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Opinion
December 15, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Putin plays to the domestic audience at annual press conference
Ben Aris in Berlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference on December 14, answering questions at his first big public event since announcing his candidacy for re-election in the March 2018 elections.
That means more than usual the Russian president focused on domestic issues and played to the domestic audience: the very first issue that came up was the question of teaching the Tartar language in the regional capital Kazan’s schools, followed by how the Kremlin was going
to increase wages.
Putin’s comments on international issues were scattered throughout and the president largely repeated his previous positions.
Asked about the prospects for a resolution to the Ukrainian conflict, Putin was downbeat and put the blame for the lack of progress squarely on Kyiv’s shoulders.
“The Minsk agreement demonstrated low efficien- cy, due first and foremost to the unconstructive- ness of Kyiv. They don't have any desire to imple- ment the accords. They don't want a full political process,” Putin said to the fawning studio audience.
The key to moving forward is to grant special status to the Donbas region, which is part of the Minsk II agreements. A draft law has been drawn up but it has not been implemented, Putin said. But the president went on to put the ultimate blame on Ukraine’s 2014 EuroMaidan revolution.
“It’s a tragedy in Ukraine, but what the reasons for it? A coup d’etat. The armed unconstitutional takeover of power. One part of Ukraine opposed it. One part wanted to move towards Europe. But the authorities opposed [the opposition] and launched a full blown military operation,” Putin said, starting to get agitated as he often does when talking about Russia’s most controversial issues.
“There are no Russian regular army forces
in Ukraine, but there are militias there who
fully support the independence of the Donbas.
If they didn't have this opposition there then
the massacre by [pro-government] nationalist battalions that would follow would be worse than Srebrenica,” Putin said with passion, referring to the far-right and nationalist militias like Azov and Aidar that fought on the streets of Kyiv against the security forces of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, but which have since largely been subsumed into the regular Ukrainian army.
Putin reserved special spite for ex-Georgian pres- ident Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been upsetting the applecart in Kyiv in recent months. Arrested last week but released shortly after, Saakashvili has been leading street demonstrations calling for President Petro Poroshenko’s impeachment.
“Saakashvili is spitting in the face of the Georgian nation. Saakashvili is spitting in the face of the Ukrainian nation,” said Putin, almost spitting the words out himself. “He is running around saying ‘I’m Ukrainian!’ Doesn’t Ukraine have any authentic Ukrainians? It’s so pathetic. My heart is bleeding.”