“Good morning to all Ukrainians. False information is circulating on the internet that I am asking our army to lay down their weapons and that an evacuation is underway. Well, here I am in Kiev. We will not lay down our arms, and we will defend our state, because our weapon is the truth, and the truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this. This is what I wanted to tell you, glory to Ukraine. “
This is the literal transcription of a video recorded and released today early in the morning from President of the Republic of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, from Kievwhere he leads the resistance in cities under attack by the forces of the Russian Federation, which invaded Ukraine 3 days ago.
In a previous video recorded late yesterday evening, always at Kievwearing a military-style sweater, said: “We are here, we are in Kiev, we are defending theUkraine. I am the target of Putinand my family is the number two goal “, slowly and convincingly pronouncing the words, and then pointing out – one by one – the four loyalists of the Government near him. In fact, his wife and two children would still be in the country, and according to intelligence services, the Zelen’sky family would be the first target of fly: Putin would have given orders to eliminate the President at any cost.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi: from actor to president under siege
44 years old, Volodymyr Zelenskyi has been the head of the semi-presidential republic of Ukraine for a few years. Born in January 1978, to a teacher father and an engineer mother, he graduated in law, and then became a comic actor in 1997, without any contiguity with the world of politics. Ukrainians know him well for the character he plays in the show “Servant of the People”: an honest history professor who decides to become president by challenging the Ukrainian oligarchs. The step from fiction to reality is surprisingly short: in the wake of the success of the TV program, also awarded several international prizes, Zelenskyi founds the homonymous party, Servant of the people, is a candidate for the elections and on 20 May 2019 he wins the presidential elections with the 73.22% of the votes. His party also won the political elections called immediately after his election, winning the majority in Parliament.
A pro-European, Zelen’sky, immediately pushed for Ukraine’s entry into the EU (although no dossier for entry into the Union nor NATO has been formalized so far), thus unleashing the ire of the Kremlin. He without hesitation wanted to distance himself from Putin’s Russia, which he would still consider Ukraine as an appendage to him, with the dream of restoring the territorial domination of the former USSR. The statements of the new Ukrainian President were unequivocal: “We want a strong, powerful and free Ukraine, which is not the younger sister of Russia, which is not a corrupt partner of Europe, but which is only our independent Ukraine”.
Now the crisis is at its peak, with theRussian army which has penetrated Ukraine from several fronts and is pressing on the capital. For sure we know that the Americans had already made available a military helicopter with adequate escort, destination Lviv, two days before the invasion began, but nothing to do: the President did not escape. Il Corriere della Sera reports the following: “‘Thursday evening impressed us’, says an EU Sherpa who overheard a phone call from him from the secret hiding place prepared in time, proof of wiretapping:’ We were in videoconference and at a certain point Zelensky said: This may be the last time you see me alive…. And you could see that he was not acting, the anguish of the moment was all there ‘”.
Ukraine, the former comedian Zelensky: the success of his new character
The former comedian, President apparently perhaps a little improvised, in these dark hours for the whole of Europe, and tragic for Ukraine, he is wisely and completely unexpectedly successfully painting the outline of his new character, resting on sturdy and first-rate pillars: courage, consistency, contempt for danger, attachment to the values of his homeland, resistance at the cost of one’s life.
Russia, Putin: serious TV style, slightly overweight
Vladimir Putin’s “style” on the other hand, he appears on TV serious, slightly overweight after almost two years of total isolation for Covid, which seems to have generated a lot of anxiety: in his Dacia he has had a sophisticated anti-virus sterilization system set up, with a mandatory 7-day quarantine for anyone who wanted to see him, so much so that recently the UN Secretary General, traveling to Russia for institutional meetings, was unable to arrange a meeting. Closed in on himself, the well-informed observe how he no longer listens carefully to the voices of his closest advisors. There is a heavy air in the Kremlin, as when in a meeting the day before yesterday he summoned the leaders of the Armed Forces and Intelligence asking on the sidelines of a press conference with unified networks: “We all agree on the management strategy of the Ukrainian question? “. When the frost fell, no one breathed, everyone nodded yes, an image that recalled Hitler when he interrogated his generals for a purely formal purpose.
Zelensky vs. Putin: the success of the Ukrainian president over the Russian one in the war of communication
In the face of one Zelenskyi in camouflagewhich enters and exits the bunkerand nimbly moves in Kiev giving orders to the troops and keeping alive the – unexpected – resistance of the Ukrainian people, Putin then makes another slip from the reputational point of view: urges the Ukrainian generals to “betray the President”, asking the high hierarchies of the Kiev army to dismiss him: “If you want to save Kiev, take power into your own hands, it will be easier for me to negotiate with you than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis who have settled in Kiev,” explained Putin with a livid face.
To the allegations of Nazi contamination in Ukraine made by Putin, Zelensky had already responded with a video that went viral, shot on the first day of the invasion, saying: “Russia treacherously attacked us this morning, as did Nazi Germany in the years of World War II. You have been told that we are Nazis, but how can a people be Nazis when they have lost over 8 million lives in the victory against Nazism? How can I be accused of being a Nazi? Ask my grandfather, who fought throughout the Second World War in the Red Army infantry and died with the rank of colonel of independent Ukraine ”.
Putin: Rolex and low blows
In any case, a slimy and not very honorable “coup” appeal, the one launched by the “Tsar” Putin, who would like to rebuild the great Russia but must also deal with significant economic problems that jeopardize the social stability in his country: average wages of $ 300 or a little more, largely on the verge of subsistence, a GDP lower than that of Italy alone, months if not years of tears and blood over the horizon for the new – very harsh – sanctions decided by the EU and the US, and the hard fist not only against political dissidents and journalists, but now also against the civilian population; yesterday alone, 1,500 arrests among peaceful demonstrators who in the most important cities of Russia were holding signs saying “This is not Russia’s war, it’s Putin’s war”.
While the West is blocking its (very large) personal assets abroad, Forbes takes into account the value of the wristwatches of the President Putin as they appeared in the official photos: over 550,000 euros. Many wonder: would this be the “father of the nation” who always puts the interests of its citizens first? The phony storytelling orchestrated by the Kremlin, and which held court for 20 years, begins to show the first – conspicuous – cracks.
Opposite the narration by Volodymyr Zelens’kyi: always an enemy of oligarchs and of the corrupt and enriched caste, which dominates in Ukraine as in Russia and since the first days in the crosshairs of his presidential term, is now in “trenches” for his people. Although the US renewed its offers for an adequately protected escape corridor from Kiev yesterday, he said: “I need anti-tank ammunition, not a lift.” Pass that the Russians claim, however, in the end he accepted, repairing this morning to Lviva few kilometers from the border with Poland: no reply so far from the Ukrainian President, the propaganda battle therefore continues.
Zelensky Vs. Putin: to conclude
As we all know, reputation is a important asset – the most precious of the “intangible” ones – which is built together with its public to last over time, and then be “exchanged” for a broader license to operate. Authenticity, coherence, communication of values in accordance with one’s identity, ability to manage crisis scenarios and propensity to assume one’s responsibilities, a strong but warm tone, as commander in chief responsible for his own people: here the pillars on which Volodymyr Zelen’skyi is effectively building his renewed image, at the risk of his life.
Putin is isolated and “pariah” for almost all the nations of the world, with Russia crushed by its arrogance and tainted by the crime of the invasion of a sovereign state in Europe. Perhaps he will win on the ground, and take home the success of his “special military operation”, but from the point of view of reputation management and nation branding, despite the enormous means dedicated to propaganda, especially online, the Russian President in fact, it has already lost this communication war.
UPDATE of 26/02/22 h 19:23: speaking of digital ecosystems, the well-known international collective of cyberactivists “Anonymous“Took sides against the military activities of Moscow. After the Russian state TV “RT News”, the site of the Ministry of Defense, the gas giant Gazprom, the state armaments company Tetraedr were put off-line, and finally – sensationally – while we are also writing the Presidency website Russian Kremlin.ru is unreachable. “We want to send messages to the Russian people so that they can be free from the state censorship machine.” Who of cyberwar strikes …
* from the blog creatoridifuturo.it
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