MOSCOW, Russia – President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday pushed every emotional button of the collective Russian psyche as he justified the incorporation of Crimea, citing everything from ancient history to Russia’s demand for respect to Western double standards. (READ: Crimea now part of Russia; treaty signed)
The 61-year-old Russian strongman said that justice has finally been served now that the peninsula, which has been historically linked to Moscow, was becoming Russian not only in spirit but also in deed.
Reeling off a litany of historic facts, Putin said Crimea was home to a host of places that were “sacred” for Russians.
“There are graves of Russian soldiers whose courage saw Crimea join the Russian empire in 1783,” he said before signing a treaty on the peninsula.
“Crimea is Sevastopol, the legendary city, the city of a great fate, a city-fortress and the birthplace of the Russian Black Sea navy,” he told lawmakers and top officials in the Kremlin’s ornate Saint George hall.
“Here lies ancient Khersones where Prince Saint Vladimir was baptised into Christianity,” he added, referring to a ruler of ancient Russia.
Putin slammed Bolshevik leaders for haphazardly redrawing Russian borders following the 1917 revolution and called Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s move to give Crimea to the republic of Soviet Ukraine in 1954 a mistake.
Crimea remained part of Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 only because Russia was too weak to protect its interests, Putin said in a speech repeatedly interrupted by applause.
The time has come to right the wrong now that a resurgent Russia has put the painful turmoil of the Soviet collapse behind itself and gained a prominent place in the world, he said.
The president, who came back to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012, boasted of the country’s capability to protect its national interests and said Russia would no longer bow before the West.
Seeking to touch a nerve with ordinary Russians, many of whom mourn the loss of the Soviet Union’s superpower status, he said their country deserved respect and would no longer take orders from Washington and Brussels.
“We have to decide for ourselves whether we are ready to consistently stand up for our national interests or will we be forever giving them up and retreat no one knows where.”
‘Amazing cynicism’
By crudely interfering in the domestic affairs of Russia’s neighbour, the West overplayed its hand, Putin said, indicating that his patience finally ran out.
“If you compress a spring to the maximum one day it will rebound back with force. You have to always remember about it.”
The double standards according to which the Western governments appear to be operating are unacceptable, he said.
“For some reason what Albanians are allowed to do in Kosovo (and we treat them with respect) Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars are forbidden to do in Crimea,” Putin noted.
“You know that’s already not double standards. That is some amazing primitive and straightforward cynicism.”
Russia is repeatedly referring to the declaration by Kosovo of its independence from Serbia — which Moscow does not recognise — as an argument in favour of its incorporation of Crimea.
He said Russia will not allow NATO to move closer to its borders. Calling the Western bloc’s military “excellent guys,” he said he “cannot imagine that we will be visiting NATO sailors in Sevastopol.”
He called Ukrainians “dear friends” and stressed that he did not seek the division of their country.
“I will be honest: our hearts bleed over everything that is now happening in Ukraine, that people are suffering, that they don’t know how to live today and what will happen tomorrow.”
He stressed it was wrong to call Crimea’s incorporation into Russia annexation because no blood was spilt and also thanked the Ukrainian military for steering clear of the confrontation with their Russian counterparts. – Rappler.com
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