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Putin is unusually passive during a pandemic, writes the American newspaper The New York Times in material presented by focus-news.net.
For President Vladimir Putin, this should have been a triumphant moment. Celebrating its tremendous success by reviving the proud condition of the Russian state in the world was important in strengthening its necessary position to maintain power. The moment was to be celebrated with a glorious military parade on Red Square on May 9, the 75th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany.
But due to the coronavirus, everything changed.
And now, having come to terms with the inevitable and canceling the parade, Putin appears to be not an active and determined leader, but a bored monarch imprisoned in his palace, looking at the clock during television meetings with his subordinates about the situation with the coronavirus spread at the bottom of its downgrade to popularity.
For 20 years Putin has become a man of action, a determined and hyperactive leader, always ready to repel internal and external enemies of the Kremlin and even engage in wild tigers in the distant Russian taiga. However, facing the coronavirus, the leader, who was reelected in 2018 by almost 80% of the votes and whose power is not particularly threatened, is behaving unnaturally passively.
“He is afraid, he is afraid of his rating and the system that he has been building for 20 years,” said former Kremlin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky. Faced with a virus, an enemy that cannot be easily overcome, “Putin understands that it is good to stay away,” Pavlovsky added.
However, staying away made it even more difficult. On Thursday, a 54-year-old Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who was appointed to the prime minister’s office just three months ago, told Putin during a video conference on the state television channel. who was infected with a coronavirus.
Vladimir Putin, 67, praised him as a “very active man” and said, “Whatever happens to you can happen to anyone.”
In addition to Putin’s problems, there has been a drop in oil prices, leading to the cessation of the largest source of income needed to finance social programs, and the Russian oil and gas-dependent economy is expected to shrink. 6% this year. .
But the crisis in the world oil market, unlike the crisis in the health sector, at least allows Putin to use his strengths in geopolitics and in important diplomatic negotiations. His joint efforts with President Trump and Saudi Arabia’s successor, Mohammed bin Salman, have not helped much to strengthen the market, but have shown that Putin does what he likes best: demonstrating that Russia’s opinion is of great importance in the political world
And the pandemic, by contrast, only underscores what has always been Putin’s weakest point: a clear lack of interest or success in solving intractable domestic problems, such as dilapidated hospitals, regions with irreversible poverty and long-term declines in actual income.
But that is not all the problem. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the referendum on constitutional changes scheduled for April 22 had to be canceled. The changes, already approved by Russian lawmakers, allow Putin to exit the presidential term and remain in power until 2036.
Putin, who was in hiding when the coronavirus first appeared in Russia in late February and early March, appeared on television almost every day this month, teleconferencing from his suburban residence in the Moscow region. But he seems to be doing it without much interest and enthusiasm.
“It gives the impression of a tired, even boring man,” said Catherine Schulman, a former member of the presidential council for civil society and the development of human rights.
On Tuesday, Putin appeared on television in a dark look, a black suit and a dark tie, this time announcing that the “non-working days” announced for the first time in March will last until May 11. “We do not need to calm down. The situation is still very difficult,” he said, noting that the peak in the spread of the coronavirus had not yet passed.
Trying to save at least something “from the rubble” of the lavish May 9 Victory Day celebrations, Putin said that one way or another, a military parade would take place and that on May 9 ” skies over Russia, congratulating the heroes, held a parade of aviation equipment, modern fighter jets and helicopters. “
But, relying on Russia’s revival as a great power, Putin’s opinion does not coincide with that of the public, which is rapidly losing interest in foreign policy, “and ceases to view Western machinations as an excuse for all failures and problems in the country, “said Catherine Shulman. .
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