Russian President Vladimir Putin has described his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky as “a disgrace to the Jewish people”. He also stressed that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has “no chance”.
“I have had many Jewish friends since childhood. And they say that Zelensky is not Jewish, but just an embarrassment to the Jewish people. This is not a joke,” Putin said at an economic forum in St. Petersburg. Zelensky was born into a Russian-speaking Jewish family in Kryvy Rih in southeastern Ukraine. Last year, the Ukrainian president was voted ‘the most influential Jew in the world’ by ‘The Jerusalem Post’.
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Putin further accused Zelensky of “defending neo-Nazi bastards” and treating World War II Nazi collaborators as heroes. “Why don’t they listen to us? We are obliged to fight this. We have every right to consider the denazification of Ukraine as one of our main goals.” He also accused his neighbor of “genocide” against Russian speakers.
“Not a chance”
Furthermore, Putin said that the counter-offensive by the Ukrainian forces “doesn’t stand a chance”. He also reiterated that Ukraine is suffering “very heavy losses”. “They won’t be able to fight much longer because their military equipment is exhausted.”
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that the Ukrainian offensive against Russian positions has failed. Kiev, on the other hand, claims to have liberated a handful of villages and about 100 square kilometers, mainly on the southern front.
“Minimum wage will be raised by 18.5 percent”
Putin also claimed that his country has weathered the exodus of Western companies well. “Russian firms quickly filled the gaps. Our economy will grow between 1.5 percent and 2 percent this year.” The president also said that the minimum wage in Russia will be increased by 18.5 percent. “That is considerably more than inflation, which is currently 2.9 percent.”
Finally, Putin confirmed that the first nuclear weapons have already been delivered to the territory of Belarus. “We will complete this work by the end of the year,” it sounded mysterious. In this way, Moscow is trying to put pressure on the Western countries within NATO. These are so-called ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons. They can still cause enormous damage, but have a shorter range than ‘strategic’ nuclear weapons.
Read also: Wagner boss Prigozhin seems to be running an election campaign. But can he really succeed Putin? (+)
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