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Russian President Vladimir Putin has not abandoned his idea of becoming a “gatherer of Russian lands”. But the fundamental mistake of his policy in achieving this goal is that he underestimates the role of a man, the role of the people.
Such opinion was expressed by the Russian opposition politician, former deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Ilya Ponomarev, UA writes.
He commented on the annual press conference of the President of Russia. Ponomarev noted that depending on Putin’s mood, some of his press conferences turn out to be more boring, some – brighter.
“This conference was like this: the man was, on the one hand, in shock, but on the other, he had nothing to say. Apparently, quite a lot was said on the sidelines to our Western partners. And the rest of him had nothing to say. Well, as always, he tried to show everyone that Russia is kind, it is only defending itself, everyone is attacking him” – the politician said.
Ponomarev believes that Putin’s messages about Ukraine were aimed primarily at Russia’s domestic audience.
“From the point of view of foreign policy tasks it is rather counterproductive. Vladimir Putin today let slip that the Russian Federation used regular troops on the territory of Ukraine. He said it as bluntly as possible. And this is the first time. He had never said it or confessed in it before. But at the same time he voiced the message that they are not a party to the conflict, the Minsk agreements clearly state this – they say, they are not there. He said that too. And that Russia helps and will help. And that Donbas is Russia” – Ponomarev said.
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Putin also spoke about the Kremlin’s proposals for further cooperation with NATO. The main essence of the requirements is the non-expansion of NATO to the east, first of all to Ukraine and Georgia. Ponomarev noted that the Russian president had created a situation in which NATO was forced to expand.
“If there was no Russian invasion of Ukraine, if there was no annexation of Crimea, then there would not be NATO on the territory of Ukraine. If there was no confrontation between Russia and Eastern Europe, there would be no expansion of the Alliance here. If it were not for all these military actions, the saber-rattling of Russian weapons, NATO would not have deployed any additional contingents in the Baltic states or in Poland. And if we talk about the number of these contingents – it is several hundred people in the Baltic States, several thousand in Poland” – he stressed.
As for Ukraine, Putin initially pursued his long-held goal of “collecting Russian lands.”
“I think that the ultimate task of Putin personally is that he wants to go down in history as such a collector of lands, as a person who restored the Soviet Union to a certain extent. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I remember this very well – the Baltic republics were not really ours anyway, and Central Asia is generally some kind of incomprehensible people. But Ukraine and Belarus are, of course, one nation for him” – said Ponomarev.
But if at this stage the goal becomes more complicated because of the loss of Ukraine, Putin will keep Belarus as much as possible in order to return to the topic of Ukraine in the future.
“I think that now Putin will seek from the West not Ukraine, but the neutrality of the West when Russia absorbs Belarus. Then he will sit in the chair of the leader of the united Russian-Belarusian state, and then he will begin to hone Ukraine and part of Moldova. I think that he sees something like this in front of him” – the politician suggested.
According to Ponomarev the fundamental mistake of Putin’s policy is that he underestimates the role of the people.
“He thinks that it is necessary to come to an agreement with someone. Now he is negotiating on Belarus. He is offended that he has not yet managed to agree on Ukraine. At the same time, he is sure that if he offers a good price, then in the end he will agree on this. But Ukraine’s people have already demonstrated their position, and it is unlikely that everything will be smooth for them in Belarus. And most importantly, the Russian people have not yet said their word” – the Russian politician summed up.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry noted that the statement about the alleged preparation of Ukraine’s military operation in Donbas is not true.
