He might have been talking at an financial discussion board, however that didn’t cease Vladimir Putin from issuing his most hawkish feedback on Ukraine in a really very long time.
Throughout a Q&A at Russia’s flagship funding occasion in St Petersburg, the Kremlin chief was requested what his finish sport was within the battle.
He replied: “I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”
The reply obtained rapturous applause from an auditorium stuffed with fawning politicians and enterprise figures.
And there was extra.
“There is an old rule,” he mentioned. “‘Where a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours’.”
Briefly, he was saying that he desires the whole thing.
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Putin’s feedback have been his most hawkish in a very long time. Pic: AP
The feedback got here as a shock as a result of they’re in sharp distinction to the Kremlin’s latest rhetoric.
Ever since Donald Trump started his push for a peace deal, Moscow has adopted a softer tone, extra conciliatory – in an obvious try to indicate Washington that it’s interested by a settlement.
However there was none of that sort of language right here. Fairly the alternative.
The Russian president even, for the primary time in months, threatened a nuclear strike on Ukraine.
Requested how Moscow would reply if Kyiv used a grimy bomb in opposition to Russian forces, he promised “catastrophic” penalties for his enemy.
“This would be a colossal mistake on the part of those whom we call neo-Nazis on the territory of today’s Ukraine,” he mentioned. “It could be their last mistake.
“We at all times reply and reply in sort. Subsequently, our response will probably be very powerful.”
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The Kremlin’s nuclear sabre-rattling was an nearly weekly characteristic over the past days of the Biden administration, however the sabres stilled when Mr Trump got here to energy.
However now, hastily, he is returned to it.
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The aftermath of a Russian drone strike on Odesa, Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
It felt like a really deliberate message from Vladimir Putin that, regardless of peace talks, Russia has no intention of backing down, neither on the battlefield nor on the negotiating desk.
I feel it exhibits that Moscow is just not too anxious about upsetting Donald Trump.
The American chief seems to have distanced himself from making an attempt to mediate the battle, however nonetheless appears to be pursuing hotter ties with Moscow.
So I feel these feedback additionally present how assured Putin is that issues are going his manner.
