Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin – who is bent on parliamentary elections in September – promised on Wednesday that measures would be taken to revive the Russian economy and mitigate the effects of the crisis on the sectors of the population most in need, while opposition supporters Alexei Navalny pledged and demanded their freedom in more than a hundred cities in the country, albeit so. In smaller numbers than on previous occasions due to the risk of taking to the streets to protest.
The activities are parallel as they are different, each activity developed according to its own script. In one of them, the President – upon completing the process of directing his annual message to the nation in front of members of Parliament – this year focused on the necessity of renewing the composition of the State Duma, in his speech on recognizing that the situation is not the best for reasons. It is beyond his control and will to make exceptional one-time payments to satisfy Russians hardest hit by severe economic hardship. More sounds, more likely.
In the other case, there may be fewer votes, which is one demand: Navalny’s freedom. Actions in favor of the imprisoned opponent deserve no space in Russian general television news. They said nothing about the “preventive” arrests of opposition figures the moment they left their home, such as Keira Yarmisch, Navalny’s press secretary, who ended up in a police station when she decided to go buy bread in the morning.
By nine o’clock in the evening, there were already 459 detainees, and without a doubt, the final number will be higher, as on previous occasions. Several young people attended the protest, and at the same time, the number of participants was lower than expected from the hundreds of thousands who expressed their intent to do so online.
When it comes to international politics, using a language more contained than hostility, Putin – against “self-leaks” that hinted at startling announcements of a break with the West – has done nothing: Russia also does not want to abandon its SWIFT system. Neither abandoning the dollar as a means of payment, nor asking permission from the Senate to use Russian forces outside the country’s borders, nor accepting the accession of rebel regions in southern Ukraine to Russia, nor establishing a military base in Belarus, nor anything that could complicate Moscow’s relations with The rest of the world.
On the contrary, Russia – as the Kremlin chief said – wants “to maintain good relations with everyone who interferes in international communications, even with those who, to put it mildly, have recently been unable to conduct a dialogue,” referring to the United States and some European countries.
Putin added that this does not mean that “we want to burn bridges, but if someone interprets our good will as indifference or shows weakness, and at the same time is ready to destroy those bridges, then he should know that Russia’s response will be disproportionate, quick and strong.”
He warned that “the organizers of any provocation affecting the core interests of our security will regret it because they never regret it.” He concluded: “Russia itself will lay down Red lines No one should go beyond. “
By giving an example that he will not allow what is supposed to happen in Belarus here, Putin said: “Everyone can think what they want about the (ousted) president of Ukraine (Victor) Yanukovych or (Nicolas) Maduro in Venezuela (…) but organize Coups and planning political assassinations, including those of rulers, that exceed the permissible limits. “
According to Putin, the Russian and Belarusian security services, in a recent joint operation, detained a group of Belarusian exiles in a Moscow restaurant who, with funding from Western intelligence, “planned to carry out a coup against (President Alexander) Lukashenko and were negotiating how to share power, after the leader’s assassination. The Belarusian and all his descendants.
It does not appear to be a coincidence that Putin indicated “plans to assassinate” Lukashenko the day before his interview, as he would come to Russia in search of further support from the Kremlin.
Russian police have arrested key supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to thwart nationwide protest plans on Wednesday – the day of President Putin’s State of the Nation Speech. Navlani is seriously ill while on hunger strike at a prison hospital in Vladimir, 180 kilometers east of Moscow. Via Graphic News
