President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address, accusing the West of starting the war in Ukraine and trying to turn it into a global conflict against Russia in a bid to gain ‘limitless power.’
‘We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared,’ Putin told lawmakers from Russia’s parliament.
He said he was addressing them ‘at a time which we all know is a difficult, watershed moment for our country, a time of cardinal, irreversible changes around the world, the most important historic events that will shape the future of our country and our people,’ and vowed to ‘systematically’ continue with the offensive in Ukraine.
His speech comes days before the war in Ukraine passes the one-year mark on Friday. Putin ordered his forces into the country on February 24, 2022 in what he calls a ‘special military operation’ instead of a war.
Since then, tens of thousands of men have been killed, and Putin, 70, now says Russia is locked in an existential battle with an arrogant West which he claims – without evidence – wants to carve up Russia and steal its vast natural resources.
The West and Ukraine reject that narrative, and say NATO expansion eastwards is no justification for what they say is an imperial-style land grab doomed to failure. It was Russia that was the aggressor in the build up to conflict, they argue.
Meanwhile, many are understood to have fled Russia ahead of Putin’s speech.
Flights from Russia to foreign destinations soared in price overnight amid fears on an expansion of mobilisation and even a full declaration of war.
Pro-Kremlin Hardliners, such as TV propagandist Margarita Simonyan, head of RT state broadcaster, spoke ominously of ‘anticipating jubilation’ ahead of the speech.
Yet fearful men were exiting the country in a last minute dash. There was an earlier exodus last autumn when Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’.
Opposition blogger Maxim Katz, 38, said: ‘The cheapest direct flight from Moscow to Yerevan [Armenia’s capital] is $650 [£540] – five times the regular price.
‘Every pre-planned speech by Putin over the past year has been akin to a professional holiday for hoteliers, real estate agents, cab drivers, and airlines in the post-Soviet Republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
‘We don’t know how many people took a one-way journey. Estimates range from half a million to two million,’ Katz said on his channel.
The Glasgow-educated political activist, now exiled, with 1.68 million YouTube subscribers, said: ‘We can say for certain that a million people nationwide are ready to go at a minute’s notice.’ Across Russia, ‘people live with one foot out of the door.’
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War has said Putin is ‘unlikely to announce measures for further escalation of the war in Ukraine, major new Russian mobilisation initiatives, or any other significant policy’ in the speech, which is delivered to the legislature and televised on national channels.
However, Belarus said on Tuesday that there was a significant grouping of Ukrainian troops massed near its border and warned that this posed a threat to its security – after warning that it would not get involved in the war unless it was attacked.
The country’s defence ministry also announced that it planned to hold more than 150 joint military exercises with Russia in 2023, and that it would take ‘adequate measures’ to respond to any military provocations.
‘At present, a significant grouping of the Ukrainian army is concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the Belarusian-Ukrainian section of the state border,’ the ministry said in a post on Telegram. ‘The probability of armed provocations, which can escalate into border incidents, has been high for a long time.’
Speaking last week, Alexander Lukashenko said: ‘I am ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus only in one case: if at least one soldier sets foot in Belarus to kill my people.’
Daily Mail (UK)
