The special military operation may become a “long process,” “the Sea of Azov has become an internal sea of the Russian Federation,” and “a reciprocal nuclear strike” are the main talking points of the Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.
Like most public events with the participation of the Russian President, the meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights was of particular interest because new political statements were made by Vladimir Putin at the meeting of the Russian leader with human rights defenders.
Under Sign of Special Military Operation
On November 17th, Vladimir Putin appointed a number of human rights activists and journalists who had approved themselves during the special military operation in Ukraine to the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. These included Elena Shishkina, one of the leaders of the Free Donbass movement; Aleksandr Kots, a military correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda; Olga Demicheva, president of the Fair Help Dr. Lisa charity fund; Vladimir Ivanov, head of the Russian Writers' Union, and others.
At this meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, which was held in the form of a video conference, the theme of special military operation in Ukraine was central. Of course, there were other issues such as low salaries of doctors, the problem of psychological burnout in the medical field, the rehabilitation of doctors who have returned from the zone of the special military operation, the need for legal regulation of NGOs, the introduction of criminal liability for leaks of personal data, etc. However, even if the speaker started talking about something else, most of the time the conversation was in one way or another about the special military operation on the territory of the neighboring country.
The very first thing Putin did was to propose the creation of its own international platforms to monitor and protect human rights.
In his speech, Vladimir Putin explicitly stated that international human rights organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Council of Europe, and others had not responded to appeals related to the deaths of residents of Donbass for years, and after the start of the special military operation, they sharply intensified and began blaming all the troubles on Russia.
“All this meant that these structures were incapable of carrying out their statutory tasks. Due to their obvious bias, Russia was forced to give up membership in a number of these organizations,” said the Russian President.
In this connection, Vladimir Putin suggested that the Russian Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights should expand to the international level. However, the big question here is whether or not it is the right thing to do.
“I believe that our Council, as an institution that works with a wide range of civil society organizations in Russia and abroad, could become an effective international platform for discussing human rights issues and their protection in the modern world,” Putin said.
He who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
Of course, the statement about an “effective international platform” is just words so far. But they mean that the Kremlin is at least thinking about the formation of alternative structures with a claim to international status. Though this issue was raised about 15 years ago. In this connection, the main question immediately arises. You can create organizations with a claim to international status as much as you want. But the task is to make such organizations sound in the Western media and ideally be able to influence public opinion in the West and around the world.
There is a very big question about this, because judging by the statements of members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, they have no vision of how to solve this problem. For example, Valery Fadeyev, head of the Council, promised that the Council will continue to send its appeals to the UN Human Rights Council, the Council of Europe, and other organizations. Yet at the beginning of his speech he himself said that “international human rights organizations are silent” in response to reports of executions of civilians in Kupyansk and murders of Russian prisoners of war.
Although all adults should understand that under capitalism, “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” In general, the outcome of the meeting made it clear that the old approach of the Council acting as a conduit, simply sending information to international organizations, is no longer effective.
Kirill Vyshinsky, the executive manager of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency (who himself went through the hell of a Ukrainian prison), said that the only people who responded were “the institutions associated with the United Nations, and they do it very reluctantly, responding primarily to the appalling war crimes, which are already impossible to ignore.
“This is probably the only organization which is reacting in any way,” said Vyshinsky.
Apparently, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly thought about this issue, since he returned to it again and again. For example, in his response to journalist Marina Akhmedova, the President stressed once again that the West uses international human rights organizations as a tool for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries around the world.
“These human rights organizations, Western human rights organizations – and now we are finally convinced of this – were created not as a tool to fight for human rights, but primarily as a tool to influence domestic politics in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union,” said Putin.
In this regard, according to the Russian leader international organizations simply ignore the facts of injuries and deaths of civilians in Donbas.
“As for the shelling of settlements in Donbass you mentioned one of them, where your colleague was killed. I spoke with the head of the Donetsk Republic yesterday. Denis Pushilin called me. Indeed, the strikes are being carried out directly on residential areas. Well, it is impossible that nobody knows about it! Everyone keeps silent, as if nothing is happening. Of course, it's terrible,” Putin said.
Then, in her speech, Elena Shishkina from the Free Donbass movement gave an example of how the inhabitants of Lugansk and Donetsk filed over 10,000 appeals to the European Court of Human Rights, and the organization simply stops the consideration of these appeals.
Truth be told, under President Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian army also shelled the Donbass, albeit with less intensity but the Kremlin was actively increasing trade with Ukraine and “resolving issues” with the Poroshenko administration in every possible way. Three years ago, Russian top officials headed by Vladimir Putin urged Zelensky in Paris, first of all, to prolong the gas transit contract between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom.
Does Special Military Operation Have Beginning but no end?
Vladimir Putin's words that the Kremlin is not planning a new wave of mobilization drew a wide response. Putin said that today about 150,000 of the 300,000 mobilized are in the zone of the North Caucasus Military District. 77,000 servicemen are in the front line, and the rest are in the second and third lines of defense. Another 150,000 or so mobilized are being trained at training ranges and training centers of the Ministry of Defense.
“Under such conditions it makes no sense to talk about additional mobilization measures and there is no need for the state and the Defense Ministry in this at present,"” said the President.
President Putin's statement that a military operation may turn into a “long-term process” drew even more resonance although it was only a suggestion.
“As for the long process and the results of the special military operation, of course, it may be a long process,” said Putin.
In addition, the Russian leader also touched on such an important issue as the results of the special military operation. First of all, he stressed that the Sea of Azov is now an internal sea of the Russian Federation.
“But then you mentioned that new territories appeared, and this is still a significant result for Russia. And, let's face it, the Sea of Azov became an internal sea of the Russian Federation. It is a big deal,” said Putin.
Apparently, Vladimir Putin liked the thesis that “the Sea of Azov has become an internal sea,” because he even drew parallels with the policy of Peter the Great.
“Even Peter I fought to get to the Sea of Azov,” said Vladimir Putin.
According to law of Boomerang
We must pay tribute to the honorary president of the Anti-Mafia Foundation and famous investigator Yevgeny Myslovsky, who persistently spoke not about global issues like “how spaceships furrow the expanse of the universe,” but focused on the suffering of civilians in Donbass.
Myslovsky explained that behind every shelling of the Donbass “there is a specific Ukrainian authority figure there.”
According to him, “many of them have already been killed, that is, punished, but for some reason they keep quiet about it.” In this connection, Myslovsky suggested that such information be made public.
Myslovsky made a seemingly simple point, but the problem is that no one had raised the issue at this level before him. Putin liked the suggestion and began to develop it, adding that “it is not difficult to figure out those who shoot at residential neighborhoods, it's true. I have taken the note of it.”
Another question is why it was only in the ninth year of the war in Donbass that they started thinking about it.
In addition, Putin warned that in Poland “nationalist elements are dreaming of regaining the so called Polish historical territories, that is, to take back the western territories that Ukraine received as a result of Joseph Stalin's decision after World War II.” It must be said that Russia's top officials (e.g. Sergei Naryshkin, Nikolai Patrushev) have warned of Poland's territorial ambitions not for the first time, but so far all these plans remain only in theory.
Retaliatory Nuclear Strike
Finally, the last high-profile thesis was the Russian President's words about the possibility of using nuclear weapons.
One of the last speakers, Svetlana Makovetskaya, head of the Grani Center for Civil Analysis and Independent Research Foundation, said “that a true gesture of good will could be your personal statement, Mr.President, that under no circumstances will Russia use nuclear weapons first – and perhaps a clarification of the state policy framework for nuclear deterrence in this regard.”
Putin accepted the challenge and said that, in his view, “this threat is growing.” The President stated publicly that “under no circumstances will Russia be the first to use [nuclear weapons.] Then a very important point was made that Russia's nuclear deterrence strategy is based on the so called “retaliatory strike.”
According to Putin, in the event of a nuclear strike on Russian territory, it would simply not be physically possible to launch a “retaliatory strike.” That is why Russia has the concept of a “retaliatory counter-strike.” Simply put, if Washington or London decides to launch a nuclear strike on Russia, they can immediately crawl to the cemetery, because a retaliatory salvo will follow without hesitation and in the shortest possible time.
“Regarding the fact that under no circumstances will Russia use it the first. But if it won't use the first under any circumstances, then it won't use the second either, because the possibilities of use in case of a nuclear strike on our territory are very limited,” the Russian President said.
“Nevertheless, our defense strategy, namely as a defense we consider weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, it is all set up around the so called retaliatory strike, that is, when a strike is launched against us, we strike back,” Putin said.
It must be said that many Western and Ukrainian media are being spreading the “Putin-threatens-the-whole-world-with-nuclear-weapons” news. In fact, Ukrainian President publicly called for “preventive strikes” against Russia during a think tank meeting in Australia. Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss also made a resounding statement that she would not hesitate to press the “nuclear button” if it came to a strike on Russia.
So Putin's words that “we are not going to wave these weapons around like a razor, running around the world” are addressed not only to Washington and London, but to the entire global community.
“But, of course, we take as a premise that it exists. It is a natural deterrent, not one that provokes more conflict, but a deterrent. And I hope everyone understands this,” the President said.
So, the meeting of the Human Rights Council was another public platform where Vladimir Putin made important domestic and international statements. This means that the Kremlin will continue this practice of answering vital questions at public events with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation.