“I
think that we’re right in the course of the Ukrainian criris, and I
have talked about it a lot. And I think that our Western partners are
wrong,” Putin said.
He
continued his usual anti-Western rhetoric and stayed true to the
Russian propaganda narrative of calling the EuroMaidan Revolution an
“illegitimate coup” and labeling the Ukrainian army in Donbas as
“punitive squads.”
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The
press conference came amid speculation that the Kremlin’s position
could become more lenient as the ruble’s exchange rate is spiraling
out of control and the Russian economy is having a hard time. The
speculation was triggered by some Russian top officials’ recent
conciliatory statements about Ukraine and the West.
“Unfortunately
nothing changed (in Russia’s position),” political analyst Vitaly
Bala, head of the Situations Modeling Agency, said by phone,
dismissing speculation about a new policy as unfounded.
The
press conference was a usual affair with most questions asked by
Kremlin-controlled media or other loyal journalists.
The
only notable exception was a question by Roman Tsymbalyuk, a reporter
at Ukrainian news agency UNIAN who immediately became a star in the
blogosphere. He wore a t-shirt with a picture of a dill plant, or ukrop
in both Russian and Ukrainian, a term disparagingly used by Russians
to refer to Ukrainians and sometimes jokingly used by Ukrainians to
refer to themselves.
“The
first question is about the punitive expedition that you launched in
the east of our country mostly against Russian-speaking residents,”
he said, turning upside down the Russian propaganda myth about
Ukrainian “punitive squads” fighting in Donbas. “…The
question is how many Russian servicemen you sent there.”
“How
much (military equipment) did you send there?” he continued. “How
many (Russian soldiers) died in Ukraine? As commander-in-chief, what
would you tell the families of killed Russian officers and soldiers?”
Putin
ignored the questions about Russian servicemen and military equipment
and applied the Kremlin newspeak term “punitive squads” to the
Ukrainian military.
“It
was not the militia of the southeast (of Ukraine) who sent their
military units to Kyiv but, on the contrary, Kyiv authorities sent
their armed forces to the southeast and use multiple rocket
launchers, artillery and military aircraft,” Putin said.
The
Kremlin has repeatedly denied that Russian regular troops were
present in Donbas. Previously Putin also denied Russian troops’
participation in the annexation of Crimea before saying that they did
take part and effectively admitting his lie.
He
also alleged that Russian fighters in Donbas were unpaid volunteers
rather than mercenaries.
“All
people who voluntarily carry out their duty or voluntarily
participate in some military action, including in southeastern
Ukraine, are not mercenaries because they don’t get any money for
that,” Putin said.
Tsymbalyuk
also asked Putin under what conditions he would release the about 30
Ukrainian “prisoners of war” arrested by Russian authorities,
including pilot Nadiya Savchenko and film director Oleh Sentsov.
Putin
replied that he did not believe them to be “prisoners of war” and
said they were being investigated on suspicion of “terrorism.”
Commenting
on Savchenko, Putin said that she would be released if acquitted by a
court or penalized if found guilty.
Savchenko,
a member of Ukraine’s Aidar volunteer battalion, was taken prisoner
by Kremlin-backed insurgents in June and subsequently brought to
Russia, where she is being held in detention. Later she became No. 1
on the Batkyvshchyna party’s list in the snap Oct. 26 parliamentary
election, and then a member of the Verkhovna Rada in absentia.
Savchenko,
who is recognized by Russia’s Memorial human rights group as a
political prisoner, is accused by Russian authorities of complicity
in the killing of Russian journalists.
Putin
also said that the Sept. 5 Minsk ceasefire agreement should
be enforced but put the blame for the parties’ failure to implement
it on Ukraine. He said that Ukrainian authorities were refusing to
withdraw from Donetsk Airport and accused them of dragging their feet
on prisoner exchanges. So far, neither Russian-backed insurgents nor
the Ukrainian army have withdrawn their forces and failed to create a
buffer zone, as stipulated by the Minsk deal.
Putin
demonstrated an unapologetic stance not only towards Ukraine but also
regarding the West, accusing the U.S. of plotting against Russia and
lashing out at NATO’s expansion.
“You
said that Russia contributed to the tensions that we currently see in
the world,” he told one of the reporters present. “Russia did
contribute but only in the sense that we are protecting our national
interests more and more vigorously. We are not attacking anyone, we
are just protecting our interests.”
He
also voiced the traditional Kremlin view of a country surrounded by
enemies ready to pounce on it, using the metaphor of the “Russian
bear.”
“Sometimes
I think: maybe our bear should stay calm, abstain from chasing
piglets around the taiga and eat berries and honey,” Putin said.
“Maybe he’ll be left alone? No he won’t because they will
always try to chain him. And once they chain him, they’ll tear his
teeth and claws out.”
Kyiv
Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
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