Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged his troops to expel Ukrainian forces from the Russian Kursk region almost a month after its conquest. “The sacred duty of the Russian Armed Forces is to do everything possible to expel the enemy from these territories and protect our citizens,” the Russian leader said during his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok, on the Asian side of the country. He also set as a top priority the occupation of Donbas —partly controlled by Russia— in what is still defined as a “special military operation.”
Putin’s choice of words to refer to the Kursk fighting, the scene of an important battle in World War II, was not without reason. The Soviet song Holy Warfrom 1941, is an anthem of that conflict and the defense of the homeland, and Putin has thus once again drawn a parallel with his invasion of Ukraine to appeal to the emotions of its citizens.
The Russian leader has played down the importance of the capture of Kursk by Ukrainian forces, even though this has forced Moscow to withdraw troops that it could use in its offensive in Donbas. “As for the military aspect of the matter, I have already spoken about it, the enemy’s goal was to make us nervous, to make us move troops from one area to another and to stop our offensive in key directions, primarily in Donbas, the liberation of which is our priority objective,” he said.
“The enemy has failed,” Putin said. According to the president, “the Russian army has stabilised the situation” in Kursk while making great progress in eastern Ukraine because kyiv has been weakened there “by transferring fairly large and well-trained units” to the border. “It has been a long time since territorial gains of this kind have been made,” Putin said confidently.
Russia advances on three fronts in Donbas; The main one is that of the city of PokrovskUkraine’s logistical rearguard in Donetsk. kyiv’s forces are already preparing the defences for what could be another major urban battle in the war.
At the same time, more than 130,000 Russians have fled their homes due to the offensive launched by Ukraine in Kursk on August 6, according to the governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov. In addition, internal polls show that Discontent within Russia with the authorities has increased at a level similar to that which sparked the Wagner rebellion in June 2023. The Russians do not understand why the border was unprotected, although the Kremlin is betting that the crisis will normalize over time.
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Despite his public display of confidence, Putin again resorted to nuclear threats if the situation on the ground did not turn out as the Kremlin wanted. The Russian leader blamed Kiev for all the explosions that have occurred so far in the vicinity of the nuclear power plants in Kursk and the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine, and threatened to go further. “One can imagine what will happen in this part of Europe if we start to give a mirror-image response,” Putin threatened.
Disagreement with Kamala Harris
“Biden was our favourite, but he was removed from the race and he recommended all his supporters to support Harris, so we will support her. She laughs in a contagious way that shows she is doing well,” Putin said ironically, using the same insulting rhetoric against the Democrat that Trump uses against her — “she laughs like a lunatic,” the Republican said in mid-August.
Although this is the second time Putin has said he supports the Democrats — Biden “is more predictable,” he said in February — his words do not correspond to his foreign policy: the Kremlin is not interested in the Democrats staying in power and accuses them of keeping Ukraine alive in the war. Likewise, with these statements, Putin is distancing himself from Trump in the eyes of the American voter, since his ties with the Republican team have been widely investigated in the past, including Moscow’s connections with his former adviser Paul Manafort.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline has also been the focus of another economic speech by Putin, who showed his irritation towards Germany for refusing to open the unborn Nord Stream 2 —the sabotage of 2022, which Berlin attributes to Ukrainian citizensdisabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline—when China, its supposed alternative customer to Europe after the sanctions, It also delays the construction of its gas pipeline Power of Siberia.
“Berlin’s reluctance to use Nord Stream is a kind of schizophrenia, it’s nonsense. But if they don’t want to, then they shouldn’t do it,” Putin said indignantly, while stressing that “the Germans will continue to buy gas anyway, without gas it is impossible.”
The other big topic of debate has been The arrest in France of the founder of TelegramPavel Durov. During his speech, Putin reinforced suspicions that he collaborated with the Kremlin days after a leak from the Russian security services revealed that the businessman secretly travelled to Russia dozens of times while supposedly in exile.
“I met Pavel Durov once in Moscow many years ago. He talked about his plans, we haven’t seen each other since,” Putin said, playing it cool. “We have no complaints (with Telegram),” the leader said, even though his colleagues continue to try to block the app and introduce new laws to control its most influential channels. “I thought Durov lived in Moscow,” Putin concluded, referring to one of the most famous Russian businessmen in the world, who has been living in Dubai for years.
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