Patient and confident, Putin comes out of crisis mode in wartime

At the beginning of your war against Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin from Russia he seemed tense, angry and even bewildered.

He spent days out of the public eye, threatening the West with attacks nuclear and criticized the Russians against the war as “scum”.

But a new Putin emerged in June, just like his pre-war image: relaxed, patient and self-confident.

In a meeting with young people, he casually compared himself to Peter the greatthe first emperor of Russia.

Addressing an economic conference, he dismissed the idea that sanctions could isolate Russia and bragged that they were harming the West even more.

And on Wednesday, smiling, he crossed the runway of a sunny Turkmen airport, taking off his jacket before getting into his Russian-made armored limousine to go to a meeting. summit of five countries.

It was Putin’s first overseas trip since the invasion of Ukraine and his first multi-day trip overseas since the pandemic, a seemingly counter-plan. calculated for the NATO summit in Spain, where Western nations announced a new strategic vision, with Moscow as the main one. opponent.

Putin also sent a message to the Russians and the world that, despite the fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin is returning to normal.

The journey was the last step of a wider transformation Putin which has become evident in recent weeks.

He is telegraphing a shift from wartime crisis mode to the aura of a calm, patronizing leader who protects the Russians from the dangers of the world.

It suggests that Putin thinks he has stabilized its war effort and its economic and political system, following Russia’s initial military failures and an avalanche of Western sanctions.

“The initial shock has subsided and things have not gone so badly,” said Abbas Gallyamov, Putin’s former speech writer, describing the president’s point of view.

But Putin’s change also shows that he is reverting to his old instincts in an attempt to mask the risks that still lie:

a Ukraine that shows no sign of giving up the fight; an extraordinarily united and expanding NATO; and a fragile calm on the home front where the consequences of sanctions and the domino effect of war, death and destruction continue to manifest themselves.

“He understands that his legitimacy rests on being strong and active, acting and winning,” continued Gallyamov, now a political consultant living in Israel.

“Paralysis and the absence of public demonstrations are for him like death. So he learned himself and now he’s trying to do it. “

The key to Putin’s message this week is that Russia’s global isolation is far from complete and that NATO summit statements, determination to support Ukraine and strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank, are of little concern.

Putin’s trip to Central Asia was noteworthy not only because it was the first time he had left the country since the invasion began on February 24, but also because he took extraordinary precautions against the pandemic.

After flying to Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Tuesday to meet the country’s President Emomali Rahmon, Putin spent the night there, the first time known to have spent the night outside Russia since January 2020.

Putin flew to Turkmenistan on Wednesday for a meeting of the leaders of the five countries surrounding the Caspian Sea, which also include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran.

The summit had a practical meaning because Russia is seeking to expand its influence in the economically viable and energy-rich region as it seeks to fill the power vacuum left by the US withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.

But the summit also had symbolic significance for Putin’s audience at home, offering a split-screen view of diplomatic activity and the Russian soft power just as Western leaders met in Madrid.

Putin presented two hand-made sabers and an Ural chess set to Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the eccentric former leader of insular Turkmenistan who was celebrating his 65th birthday; at meeting with Caspian leaders, Putin called for more regional cooperation, including a Caspian film forum.

Putin later gave a short press conference for the few members of the press who accompanied him, rejecting the idea that his invasion of Ukraine had failed because it led Sweden and Finland to try to join NATO.

A Western ally Ukraine, he insisted, would be a much greater threat compared to the two Nordic countries.

He also investigated the physique of Western leaders, responding to a joke from the premier Boris Johnson from Britain this week for being photographed shirtless like Putin was.

“I think this would have been a disgusting sight anyway,” he said.

At the beginning of your war against Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin from Russia he seemed tense, angry and even bewildered.

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