German press: Russia that now looks like a Frankenstein country and hybrid warfare

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Conservative Welt comments that Vladimir Putin’s speech on Friday afternoon showed no joy for the unity of the Russian people – the most important thing, according to the Kremlin leader

DW Chrysa Vachcevanou

The annexation of the four provinces of eastern Ukraine to Russia and the statements of the Russian President Vladimir Putin is the main topic on which the German press is focusing today. Let’s look at some of the publications:

Zeit Online observes that the announcement of the annexation of the territories “does not look like a triumph, but the threats of a desperate (…) Vladimir Putin is trying to prevent his defeat through the announcements on Friday. As faith in the power of his own weapons wanes, fear and the threat of escalation now come to the fore. The fact that Russia is proceeding with the annexation of Ukrainian territories so quickly is intended to underline the country’s willingness to take drastic measures, whatever they may be.” And according to the author of the publication, the annexation of Ukrainian territories has huge consequences for Russia as well, since “the country is turning into a Frankenstein of the Russian president: A country assembled from parts that actually do not fit together.”

“Welcome to Hybrid Warfare”

The leftist newspaper taz focuses on the dimensions of the war in Ukraine, in an article entitled “Welcome to the hybrid war”: “Russia sets the tone for the next stage of escalation. Virtual referendums, votes under the threat of violence, annexation of occupied territories. The shifting of Ukraine’s borders is sealed with an absurd ceremony. And the war highlights the weaknesses of the West. (…) Hybrid warfare is not just an expression or a term used by political scientists. This war shows with finesse that it is not only fought on the front, among soldiers, but also in the digital world, on the seabed and in the pipelines.

“Annexation is only the basis for the scenario of total conflict,” observes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Putin is now abandoning the role of aggressor and becoming the defender of Russia, the last bastion of a just world. And that is enough justification for a nuclear strike. It’s a grotesque fantasy, but Putin really lives in it.”

Finally, the conservative Welt comments that Vladimir Putin’s speech on Friday afternoon “did not show any joy for the unity of the Russian people – the most important thing, according to the Kremlin leader. Instead, it was a speech full of hate and rage directed at the West, which Putin blamed for all its ills: from neo-colonialism and forced and early sex education to Satanism. He almost gave the impression that he was not addressing his own people, but the right-wing populists of Europe and the leftists of Asia, Latin America and Africa.”

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