Russian president Vladimir Putin invoked Jesus, Devil, and transsexual bogeymen in a Kremlin ceremony for carving up Ukraine on Friday (30 September).
Putin signed eagle-embossed, leather-bound tomes declaring 4 Ukrainian areas to be a part of Russia, in a palatial corridor, full of clapping VIPs, together with patriarch Kirill, and troopers in gown uniform.
The final time this occurred, when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, marked a darkish hour for Europe’s post-WW2 safety order.
This time it is extra harmful, as a result of Russia is not in filled with management of the brand new territories it has claimed, amid Kremlin threats to guard Putin’s higher Russia with nuclear weapons if want be.
Putin portrayed the annexation as a holy battle towards the West, which helps Ukraine to defend itself, utilizing startling rhetoric.
“They [the West] are transferring towards open satanism,” he mentioned in a speech broadcast to hundreds of thousands on-line.
Western elites had been instructing “sexual deviation” to kids who modified their gender, he mentioned. “We’re preventing for historic Russia, to guard our youngsters and grandchildren from this experiment to vary their souls,” he added.
Putin invoked Jesus by identify to bear witness to his “fact” and portrayed himself in messianic phrases.
“I consider within the non secular energy of the Russian folks and my spirit is its spirit, the struggling of the folks is my struggling,” he mentioned.
“The destruction of the Western hegemony is irreversible,” Putin added, as he neared the climax of his oration.
His new mysticism stood in distinction to his justification for seizing Crimea, which he primarily based on historic grounds.
Putin additionally blamed “Anglo-Saxons”, referring to the UK and US, for blowing up two Russian gasoline pipelines to Germany this week — in a possible casus belli with Nato.
He jeered the European public for hovering meals and power costs on account of his invasion. “You want meals,” Putin mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t warmth your flats”, he mentioned.
The remainder of his speech went alongside well-worn strains, accusing Western nations of imperialism, colonialism, hypocrisy, and historic sins such because the bombing of Hiroshima and Dresden in WW2.
Satanic phantasmagoria and sexual hate-speech are additionally acquainted themes in Russian propaganda.
However whereas Putin is understood for utilizing foul-mouthed language, akin to necrophilia jokes, at state occasions, his cocktail of intercourse, faith, and geopolitics on Friday was headier than ever.
For his or her half, EU leaders are making ready to impose new sanctions on Russia after they meet in Prague subsequent week.
They purpose to blacklist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, who speaks of the Ukraine battle and Russian id in equally poisonous phrases, together with 28 others.
They’re to strike at Russia’s oil, metal, and forestry industries.
The EU can be making ready to copy-paste its Crimea journey and enterprise ban to the brand new Russia-annexed areas, because the battle drags out.
“Russian journey paperwork issued in these areas [the four Ukrainian areas annexed by Russia on Friday] aren’t recognised by member states in addition to Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein for the needs of issuing of a visa and of crossing the exterior borders,” an inside EU doc mentioned, in a call being ready alongside the brand new Russia blacklists.
Ukraine mentioned it was making use of to hitch Nato in its riposte to Putin’s transfer.
Putin’s celebration
The Kremlin solemnities noticed Russia’s 4 puppet-leaders in jap Ukraine grip arms with Putin whereas chanting “Russia! Russia!” to a standing ovation.
Two of them wore Z-logo lapel-badges, a logo which turn into synonymous with Russian atrocities dedicated in Ukraine over the previous seven months.
The Crimea annexation, eight years in the past, noticed Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe again Putin on the UN, in an indication of what he would possibly count on this time spherical.
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Syria additionally formally recognised Crimea as a part of Russia, however Russia’s greater associates, akin to China and Iran, by no means certain themselves to Putin’s fancy.
The sample first arose when he recognised the independence of two Russian puppet-regimes in Georgia in 2008, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and when Putin was joined by Nauru, Nicaragua, Syria, and Venezuela solely on the world stage.