“The ball is in the court” of Ukraine and its European allies to negotiate the end of the war, claims Vladimir Putin who, in his traditional TV marathon, however, relaunched the maximalist conditions already set last year.
The implicit rejection of the Trump Plan and the attack on Europe and NATO
Putin’s proposals are much harsher than the 28 points contained in the Trump Plan and which the Russian president officially claims to support, instead accusing Europe and NATO of wanting to continue the war.
The four Ukrainian regions and the territorial ultimatum in Kiev
Against the backdrop of a large map of the Federation that also included Crimea and all four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims without completely controlling them – Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk -, Putin spoke at length about the special military operation, launched in February 2022.
The Kremlin leader relaunched – without explicitly mentioning them – the maximalist conditions outlined last year: he is ready to put an end to the war only if the enemy withdraws from the four regions that Moscow has already formally annexed. An idea already rejected by Kiev and its allies.
The Kremlin TV marathon and the narrative of the “special operation”
The event – carefully choreographed and lasting a long time (almost four and a half hours) – is now a fixture on the Russian political calendar: it allows journalists and selected members of the public to ask questions directly to the president, projecting an image of openness from the authoritarian leader, while keeping the agenda of issues to be covered on live TV strictly controlled.
An even harder line than the Trump Plan
Repeating now recurring expressions on the “root causes” of the conflict, Putin therefore expressed an even harsher position than that contained in the Trump Plan that Washington is discussing with Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration and which does not include Ukrainian renunciation of Kherson, Zaporizhia.
The alleged military successes and the rhetoric of imminent victory
Aiming to convince Americans of the inevitable and imminent Russian military victory, Putin praised the supposed successes of his troops – “we are advancing along the entire line of contact” – and reported that the enemy is “retreating in all directions”. “I am sure that by the end of this year we will see further successes,” he added during the broadcast, which combined the format of the end-of-year press conference with the ‘Hotline’ program in which Putin answered questions arriving at the Kremlin from all over the country. (AGI)
The opening to Trump and the head-on clash with the European Union and NATO
As in recent months, Putin also used the opportunity to court President Trump, praising his new National Security Strategy (NSS) in which Russia no longer appears among the threats to the United States. But even Washington is no longer the Kremlin’s number one enemy since the tycoon returned to the White House.
Its place has been taken by the European Union and NATO, against which Putin today launched his attacks: he defined the EU’s “failed” attempt to use frozen Russian assets as aid to Kiev as a “robbery” and warned that Moscow will defend its interests in court; he then repeated the classic accusation that NATO had “deceived” Moscow with its expansion to the East and implied that he would never accept Ukraine’s membership of the Alliance.
Asked by a journalist from the American NBC about his personal responsibility in the bloodiest conflict on European soil since the end of the Second World War, Putin replied: “We do not consider ourselves responsible for the deaths of people, because we did not start this war.” The Kremlin leader argued that he had already agreed to compromises at this summer’s summit in Alaska with Trump and that it was now up to Kiev and its European allies to agree to an end to hostilities.
Not even abandoning the demand for new presidential elections after the end of Zelensky’s mandate in May (the Ukrainian Constitution, however, prohibits popular consultations in times of war), Putin said he was willing to suspend the attacks deep into Ukraine, during a possible Election Day in the country.
Economy, inflation and comparison with Europe
At a national level, the TV marathon also acts as an outlet for the Russian electorate, with questions often touching on living standards and welfare. These are concerns, however, that Putin always manages to present as temporary and necessary difficulties on the path to victory.
When someone asked him why food prices were rising but salaries were not, Putin responded by insisting that inflation is easing. And on the economy the comparison is immediate with the hated Europe: «In the last three years, the overall growth of Russian GDP was 9.7%, compared to 3.2% in the Eurozone».
The human side of Putin between faith, power and internal consensus
Faithful to tradition, the live broadcast on unified networks was also used by the Kremlin to present a more human side of the leader (whom the opponent Aleksey Navalny called “the little grandfather in the bunker” to denounce his detachment from the real country). To those who asked him what he believed in, he was clear: “In God, who is with us and who will never abandon Russia.” Shortly afterwards, when asked if he was in love, Putin smiled and replied a terse “yes”.