Putin calls Russians who back the West ‘scum and traitors’
RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (March 16) referred to pro-Western Russians as “scum and traitors” who needed to be removed from society, describing the war in Ukraine as part of an existential clash with the United States and setting the stage for an ever fiercer crackdown at home and even more aggression abroad.
Claiming that the West was trying to “cancel Russia”, the Russian leader laced his speech with derision for the “political beau monde” in Europe and the United States, and for the “slavelike” Russians who supported it.
It was a far more hard-line message than one delivered earlier in the day by Mr Putin’s foreign minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov, who said that Russia saw “a certain hope that a compromise can be reached” with Ukraine to end the war.
The clash in tone indicated that even as Mr Putin was directing his officials to explore a negotiated end to a war in which Russia faced far heavier resistance than the Kremlin had anticipated, he was prepared to keep raising the stakes in his conflict with the West.
And in reserving his toughest language for fellow Russians who disagreed with him, Mr Putin opened the door to a new wave of repression that, analysts fear, could hit a much broader swath of society than the activists and journalists the Kremlin has targeted in recent months.
“The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouths,” Mr Putin said.
“I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to respond to any challenges.”
The beginnings of a new crackdown quickly emerged.
Authorities announced a criminal case against a popular lifestyle blogger, Ms Veronika Belotserkovskaya, for anti-war Instagram posts that “discredited the state authorities and the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.
– THE STRAITS TIMES