NEW YORK (AP) — Overwhelmed by fierce resistance in Ukraine and devastating economic sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin is using language that recalls the rhetoric used in the judicial farces of Josef Stalin's time in the 1930s.
In a disturbing speech on Wednesday, Putin described his opponents as “mosquitoes” trying to weaken the country for the benefit of the West, a very harsh statement that could pave the way for a strong repression of anyone who dares to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.
His tirade seemed to reflect his frustration with the slow Russian advances in Ukraine, where his forces are bogged down on the outskirts of Kiev and other cities in the northeastern part of the country. The Russians made further progress in the south, but they have not been able to capture the strategic port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, and their advance towards the shores of the Black Sea has also slowed down.
Russia, on the other hand, is feeling the effects of Western sanctions, which prevent government access to about half of the country's reserves and deal severe blows to numerous sectors of the economy.
Fading his dreams of a quick takeover of Ukraine and facing rising economic costs, Putin vented his anger against his opponents with a speech full of poison.
“The Russian people will always know how to distinguish between true patriots and scum and traitors, and they will spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally hit their mouth. They will crash on the pavement,” Putin said Wednesday in a call with his senior commanders.
“I am sure,” he added, “that a natural and necessary purification of society will strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and willingness to respond to any challenge.”
The language used did not go unnoticed among connoisseurs of Soviet history. During the charades staged by Stalin's government to try the “enemies of the homeland”, the authorities appealed to expressions such as “reptiles” and “madmen”.
Without disguising his anger, Putin waged it against Russians who oppose the war in Ukraine, whom he described as a “fifth column” that obsequently serves the interests of the West, ready to “sell his own mother.”
“I don't condemn those who own villas in Miami or on the French riverside, those who cannot live without foie gras, oysters and so-called gender freedoms,” Putin continued. “They are not a problem. The problem is represented by those who are mentally there (in the West) and not here, with our people, with Russia. They don't remember or don't realize that they are... disposable, that they use them to cause the greatest harm to our people.”
While speaking, a State Investigation Commission announced that it was investigating several individuals accused of spreading “false information” about the invasion of Ukraine. Including Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a popular high society blogger who has written books on French and Italian cuisine and who spends part of her time in the south of France. He used it as an example of a cosmopolitan Russian woman, who loves good food, who has nothing in common with the masses.
The commission said it will issue an international arrest warrant, claiming that Belotserkovskaya's Instagram posts “detract” from the Russian authorities and military.
Belotserkovskaya responded by saying that “I have just been officially declared a decent person!”
It is being investigated within the framework of legislation passed in a hurry on March 4 by a parliament controlled by the Kremlin, a week after the invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation provides for sentences of up to 15 years for publishing “false” information about the military, contrary to the official version.
Putin and his people describe the war in Ukraine as a “special military operation” designed to eliminate “neo-Nazi nationalists” and end a potential military threat to Russia, goals that most of the world do not take seriously.
While indiscriminately bombing Mariupol, Kiev, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities, the government mobilized to shut down access to the foreign press and Facebook and Instagram, while declaring Meta to be an “extremist” organization.
The tight control of the information that circulates helps the Kremlin generate the support of broad sections of the population, who only see what the state media say.
Despite new draconian laws, information control and increasingly aggressive propaganda, thousands of Russians participate in anti-war protests, at risk of arrest.
In a powerful challenge to the authorities, a state television employee showed a poster with an anti-war message during a news program. Marina Ovsyannikova was fined the equivalent of $270 and faces charges that could send her to jail.
One of the leading opposition figures, Alexei Navalny, who is serving a two-and-a-half year prison sentence and facing charges that could hold him another 13 years behind bars, said Tuesday that the war will cause a rupture of Russia and that “everyone has a duty to oppose the war.”