Vladimir Putin called himself a counter-revolutionary in public.
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| [Vladimir Putin] |
Vladimir Putin called himself a counterrevolutionary, pledged to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Russian Empire's creation in a dignified manner, and threatened the Council of Europe and the OSCE with extinction. It was not, however, without a liberal slant: it was guaranteed that law enforcement practices in respect to "foreign agents" would be revised in order to minimize abuses, and the prospect of implementing mandatory vaccination against Covid in Russia was ruled out in principle. "Any enforced decision may be evaded," the GDP gravely declared. "Assistance will be purchased!" This approximately depicts the most famous moments of VVP's programmatic address to the Valdai Club's annual gathering.
Despite the fact that I was correct, I was most likely incorrect in words. Putin only managed to proclaim himself an ideological counter-revolutionary during his thematic address. And all of the president's other remarks were made during a debate with club members - a discussion that was twice "blown up" by the Kremlin's brilliant home-made preparations. But first and foremost, let's talk about the basics. Even after the Soviet Union fell apart, the word "revolution" remained a taboo in our nation.
Putin has made it plain in the past that he does not comprehend such fetishism while discussing his commitment to the "evolutionary path of development." This time, however, everything was expressed in a totally open text: "The revolution is not a route out of the problem, but a method to exacerbate it." "No revolution was worth the loss of human potential it caused."
After condemning the revolution on principle, the GDP went on to stigmatize the contemporary revolution in the West in terms of a fundamental revision of moral standards and values: "Someone in Western countries is convinced that the aggressive erasure of entire pages of their own history," reverse discrimination "of the majority in the interests of minorities," or the demand to abandon the traditional understanding of such fundamental concepts as mom, dad, family, or even gender differences - these, in their opinion, are milestones in the movement toward social renewal." Have we heard everything thus far? There is something like that. We also heard a chorus of voices from particularly worried "traditional values adherents" who proposed the purposefully unsuccessful notion of "turning Russia become a leader in European family relations."
Putin has backed down from his Quixote-style onslaught on windmills. With only two points, he came up with a far more realistic concept. "Those socio-cultural revolutions going place in the same States and Western Europe are not our business; we do not go there," says the first point. "The only thing we ask is that you don't come inside our house." We have a different viewpoint. In any event, the vast bulk of the Russian population.
VVP quickly used the term "moderate and healthy conservatism" to describe the moral "Putin's ideology" it had promoted. What do you mean by moderate and healthy? "A conservative attitude is not a thoughtless guardianship, not a fear of change, and not a game of retention, much less a closing in its own shell," the president said, implying that there would be no distortions, or at least that there should not be. This includes, among other things, dependence on a time-tested tradition, population maintenance and expansion, and realism in judging oneself and others.
All of this was extremely enticing (as I previously stated, I've been feeling more and more like a "moderate conservative" recently) - but also quite predictable. And, as you may know, a predictable show (if, of course, this is how you may speak about the president's address) is a dull show.
VVP, along with members of his close circle, were apparently not the only ones who believed so. "Peppercorns" was immediately included to the performance. Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient for 2021 and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, has been granted the opportunity to question the president. And he made full advantage of this privilege, pointing out the ambiguity of Russian legislation on foreign agents. I wasn't simply talking to myself when I used the value judgment "extremely compelling."
The President mentioned some of his "acquaintances who are involved in charity" and who are "brought to the legislation on foreign agents" because their charity is in jeopardy. Putin's judgment is that the law need improvement. "Homemade preparations have been prepared by the lovely Kremlin!" - I thought, but after a second, I recognized that this was only the first stage of the presidential administration's brilliant operation. Putin asked Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, to speak with him. She also stated that she has been unable to come to the United States for numerous years due to her dread of being a victim of American security agents' excessive "hospitality." This had no influence on the impact of Putin's conversation with Dmitry Muratov. However, the "other side of the coin" was successfully proved as well.
The Kremlin's homework supply had run out, but it didn't make the debate any less lively. State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, for example, distinguished himself by expressing his perplexity with Putin. That's correct! The declaration of Russia as an empire will be three hundred years old at the beginning of November, yet it will not be commemorated on a state level in our nation! Given the inclination of certain former fraternal republics and Soviet Union governments to accuse modern Russia of adopting a "imperialist strategy," Deputy Zatulin's issue was extremely thorny.
Putin, on the other hand, appeared to be genuinely pondering and even angry, as a conservative politician without complexes. The Russian state assured Deputy Zatulin that it would remedy its error - with his direct involvement.
Also, in response to a question about whether Russia will leave the Council of Europe and the OSCE, Putin indicated that such a possibility exists: "Nobody needs morals!" The presidential hypothesis was then announced: since moralizing against Moscow has long been the main reason for these two organizations' existence, if Russia abandons them, they would die a natural death. The president's many hours of conversation with the "Valdai" came to a close almost soon after that. Every effective speaker knows how important it is to conclude on a high note!