Only in a world of make believe could anyone come up with the latest words uttered by the Russian tyrant, Vladimir Putin.
According to this monster, Russia has "no bad intentions towards (our) neighbours". He says that "everyone must think about how to normalise relations, cooperate normally and develop relations normally". Putin also claims "And all our actions, if they arise, they always arise exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions, actions against the Russian Federation".
If things weren't so serious, I would laugh out load.
It may be argued, and some do argue, that Putin's invasion of Ukraine has come about because of his perception that Ukraine was becoming to close to the West, with NATO keen to develop its ties to the country and Ukraine itself looking to join the European Union. It is suggested that Putin sees this as a direct threat to Russia which must be negated. In his eyes, diplomacy has failed and so direct action is the only course, Ukraine being perceived to be acting in an 'unfriendly' manner towards its huge neighbour.
What an absolute load of poppycock. Russia is vastly bigger than Ukraine and has enormously greater military power, including the possession of nuclear weapons. While Ukraine may have found the West attractive, it also has strong historic links to Russia and has done nothing to harm its former Soviet master. Ukraine has not massed an army on its border with Russia, it has not sent those troops across the border, supported by aircraft, parachutists and much other military paraphernalia. Ukraine has not launched bombardments of any Russian cities and has not attacked or killed any Russian civilians.
However, in Putin's fantasy world, the very existence of Ukraine as an independent state which might look favourably upon the West is abhorrent. In his mind, Ukraine was, and always should be, part of a Greater Russia, just as other former Soviet states should be. His action in invading Ukraine, for the second time, be it noted, after his earlier invasion and annexation of the Crimea, serves this purpose and this purpose alone. It demonstrates that Putin, and Russia under Putin, is no different from the old Soviet Union under its brutal dictators, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, all of whom ruled over regimes of mind blowing horror.
How Putin can believe that anyone will accept his ludicrous assertions about having no bad intentions and acting only in the face of 'unfriendly actions' has to remain a mystery buried deep inside the skull of this psychopath. Were the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London or the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury acts without 'bad intentions' ? Were these acts which demand any 'normalisation of relations ? Did Litvinenko or Skripal represent any real danger to Russia ? Does any normal country send its operatives on missions to foreign nations to carry out the assassination of civilians ?
In Russia, all dissent is met by the full force of a military dictatorship. Opponents of the regime are rounded up and thrown into prison; if they're lucky, they may face a show trial and an opportunity to confess their guilt and beg for forgiveness, if not they simply 'disappear'. It is no fun being an opponent of someone like Putin, so most normal Russians keep their heads down and their mouths shut. They suffer in silence, as they have done for centuries, first under the Imperial Tsars, then the communist dictators and now under a man who seems to be at least as monstrous as any of his predecessors.
If Putin really wants a normalisation of relations and cooperation, the path is there in front of him, should he wish to walk it. Withdraw from Ukraine, pay for the costs of reconstruction, accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation, able to determine its own future, give an undertaking not to carry out any further such aggressive acts against either other nations or individuals and, start behaving like a human being rather than a psychotic mad man
Not much chance of that then. When Putin dies, he will go down in history alongside those other cruel and brutal men of history, the likes of Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, Stalin, Hitler and others who brought about the slaughter of hundreds, thousands, even millions in order to satisfy their cravings for power. He will be vilified, rightly, and his legacy will be written in the blood of Ukraine.
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