By Athena Papakosta

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech lasted almost two full hours and was broadcast live on television. It was his first address since 2021 to both houses of the Russian parliament.

The moment the Russian president chose to speak is no accident. We are less than 24 hours before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A few hours before, the surprise visit of American President Joe Biden to the Ukrainian capital was preceded, while, a few hours after Putin’s speech, the US president would take the floor to deliver a speech, but from Warsaw.

The powerful occupant of the Kremlin stayed true to his narrative. He attacked the West and especially the United States by insisting that Moscow is the victim of the war in Ukraine. “They started the war. They let the genie out of the bottle. She brought chaos to the whole world,” he said.

As he explained, Russia wanted a peaceful solution to the problem but the Western countries behind Moscow’s back were preparing their own plan. For him the Western countries would even ally with the devil to fight Russia.

“What does this mean for us? What it means; It means they want to be done with us once and for all. In other words, they intend to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation,” he pointed out.

The Russian president has promised his people victory and announced benefits for those fighting while pledging to bolster Russia’s army and navy — a commitment that illuminates Moscow’s intention not to end the war anytime soon, with many analysts noting that the Vladimir Putin appeared unrepentant and determined to beat him.

However, there was not a single mention of the situation on the battlefields.

So far, we have essentially noticed that nothing has changed in the narrative of the Russian president. But when he announced that the nuclear agreement with the United States is put on ice then that narrative changes, for the worse.

In more detail, the Russian president said he was “forced” to announce that Moscow is suspending its participation in the treaty regarding the limitation of the strategic nuclear arsenals of both Russia and the United States. Of course, he hastened to clarify that he is not leaving and that is what matters.

As he underlined, Western countries have their nuclear weapons aimed at Russia and not the other way around. Moscow will not push the button first, he clarified.

This choice of Putin was according to the British The Guardian and the only news from the speech of the Russian president. Western countries subsequently condemned Moscow’s withdrawal, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken calling the decision “disappointing and irresponsible”, while France, for its part, called on Russia to “show responsibility and revise as soon as possible”. .

“It’s an extremely dangerous decision,” Andrei Kolesnikov, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, told the British BBC, “as we cannot predict how Putin will behave in the future and what’s on his mind.”