As of: March 2, 2024, 7:03 p.m
By: Hannes Niemeyer
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After Putin's State of the Union speech, Europe discusses the nuclear warning.
For an expert, however, two statements were much more concise.
Moscow – A lot of election advertising, a little threat.
This is a relatively short summary of Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on Thursday (February 29).
Two weeks before the elections in Russia, the Kremlin ruler particularly promoted himself, promising billions upon billions in investments in the country.
In terms of foreign policy, one statement in particular stuck.
In his long speech, Putin also indirectly addressed Emmanuel Macron's NATO initiative.
The French president recently no longer ruled out sending NATO ground troops to Ukraine.
Putin now spoke of the fact that such a project could end “tragically” and also brought nuclear weapons into play.
A threat that caused a stir in Europe - although it is by no means new.
According to an expert, two completely different statements made by the Kremlin chief in his speech were much more concise.
Putin's State of the Nation Speech: "Nuclear Threat" just repeats, according to expert
Dr.
Sabine Fischer from the Science and Politics Foundation appeared on ZDF's Today Journal in the evening after the speech to analyze Putin's appearance.
Moderator Marietta Slomka also immediately jumped into the interview with the statement about Putin's speech that dominated the headlines.
In today's ZDF journal, expert Fischer spoke about Putin's speech.
© Screenshot / ZDF
Slomka wants to conduct “text analysis” and know whether the “nuclear threat” was the most critical statement for foreign countries.
“Not for me,” explains expert Fischer immediately.
According to her, the foreign policy section at the beginning of Putin’s long speech “didn’t bring anything new.”
Instead, she draws attention to two aspects that are important to her and have flown somewhat under the radar.
Expert Fischer discovered two striking points in Putin's speech that went under the radar
“One thing was that Putin explained that the new Russian elite are actually the people who are now fighting at the front,” says Fischer on ZDF.
In his speech, Putin explicitly praised the soldiers in Ukraine for their efforts.
According to Fischer, this also “represents his idea of a militarization of the political system.”
The second aspect Fischer brings up is the end of Putin's speech.
“At the end he tied it up again and said very clearly that our future, the development of our country, depends on this war and the fight of the soldiers at the front.”
According to Fischer, this shows that Putin is “explicitly placing the future of the country in the context of this war.”
For the expert, this was also a concise statement - whereas the foreign policy part, including the nuclear threat, was mainly repetition.
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Further abnormalities in Putin's speech: “Absurd” statement and “propaganda sound”
Putin raised these points against the background of his own statements that “Russia is determined and capable” of achieving its goals in the war, Fischer continued.
Fischer described Putin's statement that he would strengthen Russian democracy as "certainly absurd for part of the Russian audience."
However, such statements would probably still meet with open ears among many people in Russia.
This is also “the result of propaganda sound designed in this direction”.
The fact that the Russian people are not just subservient has been shown again and again, especially recently.
Not just when Putin received a slap in the polls from his own country.
But also about the death of Alexei Navalny.
There were hundreds of arrests because of expressions of grief for the Kremlin critic.
There are also fears of an escalation around Navalny's funeral.
(han)