Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a public warning today against the Russians he labels as traitors. According to him, the West wants to use them as a “fifth column” to destroy the country. The Russian people will soon be able to tell the difference between traitors and patriots.
In a speech to ministers of his government, Putin denounced Russians who he believes are mentally aligned with the West. “Of course they (the West, ed.) will try to bet on the so-called fifth column, on traitors – on those who make their money here, but live there. Living, not in a geographical sense, but in the sense of their thoughts, their servile thinking,” said the Russian president.
“The collective West wants to divide our society, provoke a civil confrontation in Russia and use the fifth column to achieve their goal. And there is only one goal – the destruction of Russia,” he said. But they won’t succeed, it sounded combative.
“All people, especially the Russians, will always be able to distinguish the true patriots from scum and traitors, and just spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally flew into their mouths,” he continued.
“Self-cleaning”
“I am convinced that this natural and necessary self-cleansing of society will only make our country stronger, our solidarity, our cohesion and our willingness to face any challenge,” the Russian president said.
Putin made these statements during a meeting of the Russian government to discuss economic support measures in response to Western sanctions against Russia. The meeting was broadcast live on the national broadcaster.
Quote
Putin has Orwellianly divided the citizens of Russia into clean and unclean people.
Criticism
Mikhail Kashanov, an opposition politician who was Prime Minister under Putin in the early 2000s, condemned the president’s statements on Twitter: “Putin is stepping up his actions to destroy Russia, essentially heralding the beginning of massive repressions against those who disagree with the regime,” he says. “This has happened before in our history, and not just ours.”
Russia experts call Putin’s message horrifying. “Putin has Orwellianly divided the citizens of Russia into clean and unclean people,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a political analyst in Moscow. He refers to the author George Orwell, who wrote the famous novel ‘1984’, among other things.
Approach “fake news”
Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, it has become even more dangerous in Russia to have a dissenting opinion. The Russian government describes Moscow’s offensive as a “special military operation”.
A law passed on March 4 makes public actions aimed at “discrediting” the Russian military illegal, and prohibits the distribution of fake news, or the “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.” Russian Federation”.
Thousands of Russians who dared to protest the war have been arrested and several leading independent media outlets have already suspended operations.
Russia has already filed at least three lawsuits against people accused of spreading alleged fake news about the Russian military on Instagram and other social media. Officials reported this today.
ALSO WATCH: Employee shows anti-war message during news
“Provisional peace plan with 15 points is on the table”, Lavrov sees hope for compromise in talks
Anonymous started a cyber war against Russia: what have they really achieved?
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.