Putin is amused by the Scholz fake: "He says the right things"
Created: 11/25/2022, 10:25 am
By: Patrick Mayer, Stephanie Munk
Looking at Vladimir Putin: Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel defends her Russia policy.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirms Ukraine's goal.
The news ticker for the negotiations.
Patriot
air defense system
for
Ukraine
?
Lambrecht wants to talk to NATO after Poland's proposal.
Merkel
defends
Russia policy
: Ex-Chancellor speaks of Putin's last effort.
Russia
distributes
passports in Ukraine
: More than 80,000 passports have been distributed to Ukrainians.
This
news ticker on international reactions to the Ukraine war
is constantly updated.
Update from November 25, 10:14 a.m
.: Russian President Vladimir Putin is amused by a fake Scholz speech.
The state news agency Ria published a short video on Thursday showing the head of the Kremlin watching an alleged appearance by the SPD politician in Moscow.
In reality, it was artificial intelligence.
In this so-called deepfake, the Russian programmers first put words critical of America from the popular Russian action film "Bruder 2" into Scholz's mouth.
Then they have him say: “We wanted to give up Russian gas.
But to put it in the words of a Russian classic: We wanted the best, but it turned out as always.” This dictum comes from the former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin (1938-2010).
"He says the right things," Putin commented on the fake Scholz video.
The speech was rich in content and profound.
Update from November 25, 6.25 a.m .:
In view of the cold and darkness in Ukrainian cities as a result of the massive blackouts, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has summoned his people's spirit of resistance against the Russian invasion.
“We endured a full-scale war for nine months, and Russia didn't find a way to break us.
And it won't find anyone," said Zelenskyy in his evening video address on Thursday.
"We must carry on as we are right now, in unity and mutual aid." Russia invaded the neighboring country on February 24.
The restoration of the power and water supply after Wednesday's heavy rocket attack lasted throughout Thursday and into Friday night.
"Russia not only wants the Ukrainians to be without electricity and heat," Zelenskyy said in Kyiv.
"The terrorists want to isolate us from each other and make sure we don't feel each other."
The attacks on civilian targets are "the revenge of those who lost," he said.
"They don't know how to fight.
The only thing they can do is terrorize.
Whether energy terrorism, artillery terrorism or rocket terrorism – Russia has come down to that under its current leadership.” Only the liberation of the entire country and security guarantees could permanently protect the Ukrainians from Russia.
Ukraine-News: Zelenskyy holds on to the end of Russia's occupation of Crimea
Update from November 24, 8:40 p.m
.: Despite Western skepticism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is sticking to the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, as a war goal.
He told the British newspaper
Financial Times
.
"I can understand that everyone is confused about this situation and what will become of Crimea," he was quoted as saying.
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"If someone shows us a way to end the occupation of Crimea by non-military means, then I will be very much in favor of it," Zelenskyi told the newspaper.
But if a proposal meant that Crimea would be occupied and remain part of Russia, "no one should waste their time on that.
That's a waste of time."
Western supporters of Ukraine assume that Ukraine will eventually be able to recapture the areas occupied by Russia since February 24 and the Donbass.
But they are more cautious about Crimea: The peninsula is strategically and symbolically so important for Moscow that there is a risk of an escalation of the war.
During negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the spring, at the beginning of the war, there was talk of postponing the question of Crimea's membership for a few years.
Strengthened by their military successes, however, the Kiev leadership is now pursuing the goal of recapturing all detached areas of Ukraine.
In the past few months, skepticism has repeatedly been heard from NATO and Western countries as to whether a reconquest of Crimea is really a possibility.
President of Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelenskyj (centre), here after the liberation of Cherson.
© IMAGO/Ukraine Presidency
Patriot air defense system for Ukraine?
Lambrecht wants to talk to NATO after Poland's proposal
Update from November 24, 6:10 p.m
.: According to Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), the proposal by the Polish Defense Minister to prefer to deliver the Patriot air defense system offered to his country by Germany to Ukraine “must be discussed with NATO”.
"It was important to us as a NATO partner due to Poland's exposed position (...) to offer Poland support in this special situation - with air policing, but also with patriots," said Lambrecht this Thursday in Berlin with a view to the Rocket impact in the Polish border area with Ukraine in mid-November.
These are Patriot systems that are planned into NATO's integrated air defense system, which is why it was possible to make this proposal to Poland, Lambrecht said.
"Proposals that deviate from this must now be discussed with NATO, with our allies," added the minister.
After the rocket hit, the German government offered to support NATO partner Poland with the Patriot missile defense system earlier this week.
According to NATO and Poland, the impact was probably caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
A combat-ready "Patriot" type anti-aircraft missile system of the Bundeswehr's 1st anti-aircraft missile squadron.
(symbol photo) © Axel Heimken/dpa
In an initial reaction, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak was pleased with the offer and suggested stationing the defense system on the border with Ukraine.
On Wednesday evening, he tweeted that he had "asked the German side to transfer the Patriot battery offered to Poland to Ukraine and deploy it on the western border."
The Patriot system is used to defend against aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
It is based on the interaction of several radar devices that pass on information about approaching missiles to guided missiles;
these should then destroy the projectile in the air.
The feeling was very clear: 'In terms of power politics you're through.'
Only power counts for Putin.
Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU)
Merkel defends Russia policy: Ex-Chancellor speaks of Putin's last effort
Update from November 24, 3:25 p.m
.: Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has defended her policy towards Russia and Ukraine.
The Russian attack did not come as a surprise, Merkel told
Der Spiegel:
"The Minsk agreement was undermined."
In the summer of 2021, she and French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to create “an independent European discussion format” with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
"But I no longer had the strength to assert myself because everyone knew: It will be gone in the fall."
Merkel officially left office in December 2021.
The previous August, she had traveled to Moscow for a farewell visit to see Putin.
"The feeling was very clear: 'In terms of power politics, you're through.'" Merkel told
Der Spiegel
.
"Only power counts for Putin."
Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (archive image) © Markus Schreiber/AFP
Russia distributes passports in Ukraine - more than 80 thousand
Update from November 24, 2:24 p.m
.: According to its own statements, Russia has issued more than 80,000 Russian passports to residents of the Ukrainian regions that have been declared annexed.
"Since the four regions of the Russian Federation were added, and in accordance with the law, more than 80,000 people have received passports as citizens of the Russian Federation," Russian news agencies quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying.
The UN in September condemned the "attempted illegal annexation" of Ukrainian land and called on the international community "not to recognize any border changes announced by Russia".
Even before its war of aggression, Moscow had distributed hundreds of thousands of Russian passports in the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine.
Update from November 24, 12:42 p.m .:
Homosexuals and transgender people have been oppressed in Russia for years.
Now the Russian lower house has spoken out in favor of tightening the law against "LGBTQ propaganda".
"Any promotion of non-traditional sexual relations will have consequences," Vyacheslav Volodin, the leader of the Lower House, told Telegram.
The English abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.
The legislation "will protect our children and the future of this country from the darkness being spread by the US and European states."
Anyone who violates the law should have to pay a fine of up to ten million rubles (about 160,000 euros).
It still has to be approved by the House of Lords and Putin, but this is considered a formality.
The law will apply to the media, literature, cinema and advertising.
According to the Duma, websites with prohibited information will be blocked.
Against the background of the Ukraine war, it is also presented as a means of defending Russian values against Western countries.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ activists have called on Russia not to pass the law, which bans any public mention of sexual minorities.
Russian film production companies and book publishers have also expressed concern about the law.
They say it could lead to the banning of Russian classics such as Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.
Ukraine-News: Putin veils his intentions in Ukraine
Moscow - Russia no longer wants the violent elimination of the Ukrainian government in Ukraine - this was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday, November 23, claiming that he had "talked about it" with Putin.
Shortly before that, the deputy spokesman of the Council of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, claimed the exact opposite: he demanded the complete capitulation of the Zelenskyi government.
The US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is driving this confusion in the Ukraine war out of calculation - he deliberately wants to leave the world in the dark.
This should unsettle the West in its support for Ukraine.
"The Kremlin wants to induce Western countries to put pressure on Ukraine to enter into peace negotiations," according to an analysis by the institute on Wednesday (November 23).
What is Putin planning?
The Kremlin has made different statements about the Ukraine war.
© Imago/Russian Foreign Ministry
Pro-war community reacts with uncertainty - "War without a clear goal"
According to the experts, the fact that Putin is currently not speaking plain language is creating great uncertainty in Russia.
"The contradicting statements confused the pro-war community." Example: After Peskov's statement that they no longer want regime change, a well-known Russian military blogger sarcastically remarked "that Russia is waging a war aimlessly without a clear goal."
Putin's propaganda staff on Russian state television is also said to be unsettled by the Kremlin's ambiguous statements.
Recently there was a remarkable incident in a Russian political talk show: moderator and hardliner Vladimir Solovyov called for the use of nuclear weapons in Cherson in the show, but several invited experts vehemently contradicted him.
The political and military experts emphasized that using nuclear weapons to defend areas that are not fully occupied is irrational - and even argued that NATO poses no threat to Russia.
"Such a rejection of common Kremlin points in such a forum is unprecedented," write the ISW analysts.
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
View photo gallery
Ukraine-News: Putin is probably still planning the collapse of the system in Ukraine
With his cat-and-mouse game, Putin wants to keep several groups in line: the extreme supporters of war, the more moderate forces, and also his people.
The Ukraine war is making more and more demands on this - whether it's the loss of men, sons and brothers at the front, or the country's threatened economic collapse as a result of Western sanctions.
The experts believe that in reality Putin has not backed down from his original intentions of completely subjugating Ukraine: this was shown by a speech to Russian academics at the end of October, in which the Russian President continued to deny Ukraine any sovereignty and demanded full " denazification” of the country.
"Putin's demands amount to a regime change in Kyiv, even if he does not expressly call for this in his most recent statements," the ISW experts conclude.
(smu)