The contrast between the two presidents named Vladimir was remarkable. The first, in control of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, was paranoid, with the look of a dead fish. The other, who uses the Ukrainian spelling of his first name, received a standing ovation from the US Congress after quoting Martin Luther King.
Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to dismember Russia and betting on a “fifth column, national traitors, those who make money here but live there”. The videoconference speech on Wednesday (16) suggests that the president realizes the catastrophic miscalculation he has made, not only on the battlefield, but also on the economic front in Russia.
A journalist with extensive access to the Russian government’s vast security apparatus revealed a few days ago that all interlocutors he talks to, including ministries with no ties to the Armed Forces or espionage, point the finger only at Putin as responsible for the war he has already inflicted. serious losses to the Army, in lives and material.
As always, the Russian accuses others of what he wants to do. Its external division director of the FSB (successor to the KGB) is said to be under house arrest after convincing the chief that he had cultivated a solid fifth column to hasten the fall of the government in Kiev. The Ukrainian government claims that, days after the invasion, it “destroyed” a force of elite Chechen assassins sent to the capital to kill President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It is possible that the first weapon used by Putin to consolidate power, 22 years ago, is no longer as effective. Even before framing oligarchs so as not to question their authority, the Russian president took control of television in the country that has nine time zones.
He was an unknown bureaucrat when he was named successor to Boris Yeltsin, who resigned mid-term in December 1999. In less than three months, the former KGB spy would have to run in his first election, and a loyal circle in charge of the TV networks was instrumental in transforming the mediocre civil servant into a statesman in the eyes of voters.
But the brutal Stalinization taking place in Russia could come up against factors that Putin may not appreciate. Today, 85% of the population has access to the internet. The Kremlin has blocked foreign media and is fearful of the new censorship law that provides for a 15-year sentence for anyone reporting the truth about the war.
But demand for VPNs (virtual private networks) has exploded since the government blocked access to Instagram and other social networks. The iron curtain imposed on information should work among older Russians, Putin’s biggest base of support, but it will face the ingenuity of young people who, while still out of date on the carnage in Ukraine, are unlikely to be content with the blackout.
While Kiev’s Volodymyr moves a worldwide audience daily, Moscow’s Vladimir shows signs of fearing isolation in angry speeches. In Wednesday’s speech — oh, irony — the world’s richest kleptocrat accuses his oligarchs of being corrupted by pâté de foie gras and “so-called gender liberties.” Sounds like your protégé Donald Trump.
Putin may not realize that the war imagined as a few days’ stroll could prove to be a deadly shot in the fascist authoritarian wave he helped to spread.
