An Analysis of Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day Comments by Alexander Mercouris.

Putin’s press conference yesterday was interesting because it highlighted his deep feeling of anger and betrayal by Europe.

(1) He reminded the journalists (all Russians) that the crisis began with the EU insisting Ukraine ratify an Association Agreement incompatible with Ukraine’s free trade agreement with Russia. When Ukraine demurred the Maidan coup was the result;

(2) He said Europe’s objective in 2022 was to engineer Russia’s collapse so that the Europeans would be able to help themselves to its parts. In a truly extraordinary passage, he spoke of Finland joining NATO in order to participate in the plunder;

(3) He gave a very bitter account of the events of April 2022 and of the failure of the Istanbul Agreement.

Briefly: He revealed for the first time that it was Macron who called him and tricked him into pulling Russian troops back from Kiev, telling him that “the Ukrainians could not be expected (to sign the Istanbul Agreement) with a gun pointing at their head”. He was careful to say that the Russians recorded the conversation and have Macron saying all this on tape.

He then spoke about how, once the Russian troops had been withdrawn, ‘another colourful character’ - Boris Johnson - told the Ukrainians to ditch the Istanbul Agreement in return for unlimited Western support.

I came away with the clear impression that Putin believes Macron and Johnson were working together and had it all worked out in advance;

(4) He accused the Europeans of using Ukraine as a proxy in their conflict with Russia;

(5) He signalled that the only major West European political figure he retains any trust in is Gerhard Schroder, who is of course out of power;

(6) Contrary to many reports, Putin did NOT say that he believes the Ukraine conflict is coming to an end. This belief stems from misreporting of his words by a TASS journalist.

If Putin’s words are read carefully it is clear his meaning was quite different. It is that with the failure to bring about the collapse of Russia that which on The Duran we call ‘Project Ukraine’, ie. the West’s (in Putin’s view, Europe’s) bid to use Ukraine as a tool to destabilise Russia, is coming to an end.

Perhaps wrongly, Putin appears to blame the Europeans more for ‘Project Ukraine’ than he does the Americans.

(7) Putin did float the possibility that with the failure of Project Ukraine, and with the crisis this has caused in Europe, a new generation of European leaders might find a way back towards a reconciliation with Russia. However, he did not seem to me to say this with much conviction;

(8) As for the Americans, Putin appears to think that their various diplomatic initiatives of the last year to end the war have run into a wall and are effectively over.

Many people will say that Putin has a paranoid view of Europe and its intentions. He however would point to Europe’s actions (eg. he spoke about Europe’s work fabricating Ukraine’s drones) and its rhetoric, which is frankly terrible. Certainly, in Russia his opinions are widely shared.

This is where in Europe relentless hostility, extreme rhetoric, and a total rejection of dialogue with the Russians, has led us. If the Russians and their leader now entertain these views of us, we should not be surprised.