Putin’s pride: ‘We do not need anything’

In a two-hour speech marking the end of his term of office, the Russian president said he foresaw a future of well-being, security, and peace. He highlighted Russia’s renewed dignity and pride. "We are not threatening anyone,” he said, whilst showing the country’s new weapons and defence systems.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday gave the traditional closing speech of his term in office, which is also the main event in his re-election campaign ahead of the 18 March presidential election. This time the Federal Assembly, the joint session of the two houses of parliament (state Duma and Federation Council), met outside the Kremlin, in the great hall of the Manege building near the new imposing monument to Prince Vladimir the Great, the baptiser of Kievan Rus, 1,030 years ago. Among the dignitaries present, the white tiara of Orthodox patriarch Kirill (Gundjaev) stood out in the front row.

For days, many observers have wondered why the president was almost inactive during the ongoing election campaign, unlike his opponents who were busy on the campaign trail, especially Pavel Grudinin, the head of major agricultural enterprise. The so-called "strawberry king" is the Russian Communist Party’s candidate in lieu of Gennady Zyuganov, the Party’s secretary who was its presidential nominee for more than 20 years. Opinion polls give him an honourable 17 per cent, tendentially upward to 20. Conversely, Putin's popularity has dipped below 70 per cent (in 2012 it reached 71 per cent), closer to 60, which would entail a serious waning of his authority.

The outgoing president, who is trying to be re-elected for a fourth time, has shown a general lack of interest in the election. In his address, he sought to show himself as unconcerned about the results of the upcoming elections. Laying out the results of his administration, Putin expressed his detachment by saying "No matter who is elected," a nod to a possible successor, but very unlikely that it won’t be him.

The Russia he rebuilt in the past 20 years, according to his words, has achieved “sustainability and stability in almost all areas of life," and this makes the issue of democratic succession quite irrelevant, since the goals he set out have been met. "Russia,” he said, “ranks among the world’s leading nations with a powerful foreign economic and defence potential."

Russia’s undisputed leader in the third millennium then cited the country’s growth figures, not so much those of the last six years, but since 2000, when he first came to power. In all areas, from work to family, from demographic recovery to housing, from health to education, Putin's Russia has made tremendous strides and has met, according to the president, the goals he set out to achieve. The next step is very simple: double, triple, multiply all the parameters, especially through the technological revolution.

Without indicating any concrete economic measure, nor any reform plan, Putin promised to bring the country to unprecedented levels of security and well-being, on the basis of "the unity of Russian society and, most importantly, on the huge potential of Russia and our talented and ingenious people." Roads, bridges, airports, from the Crimea to the Arctic Circle, where navigation capacity will increase ten times by 2024, "Russia must not just become the world’s key logistics and transport hub, but also, which is very important, a global centre for the storage, processing, transfer and reliable protection of large volumes of information, so-called big data." In a few years, the whole country should be connected to the most effective and rapid Internet systems, even in the most remote villages and regions.

Putin did not however utter a single word about domestic and foreign oppositions, ongoing conflicts or anti-Russia sanctions. He referred to them in his own, isolationist way, by boasting that "We do not need anything".

His speech, which lasted two hours, gave the president the opportunity to focus in great detail on military matters. Reproaching the US for its stubbornness in the new arms race, the president blamed himself for one mistake: too much patience with the Americans, trying to dissuade them.

Now Russia has adjusted its aims, developed new weapons and new systems, which Putin presented in showy videos that give the country back its dignity and display its influence in the world. "The operation in Syria has proved the increased capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces.” Now there is no reason to be humiliated by international partners.

"We are not threatening anyone,” he said, and we are “not going to attack anyone or take away anything from anyone with the threat of weapons. We do not need anything. Just the opposite. I deem it necessary to emphasise (and it is very important) that Russia's growing military power is a solid guarantee of global peace”.

“Now we have to be aware of this reality and be sure that everything I have said today is not a bluff ‒ and it is not a bluff, believe me ‒ and to give it a thought and dismiss those who live in the past and are unable to look into the future, to stop rocking the boat we are all in and which is called the Earth.”

Now, for Putin, the 21st century is in the safe hands of the Great Russia.

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• vladimir putin
• presidential term
• address
• election
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