3 reports: one surprise

Opposition to Putin’s war is alive on Moscow’s streets. But no trace of it is covered on Russian TV

Analysis by Nic Robertson, CNN — March 1, 2022

Moscow CNN —
More than 6,400 Russians have been arrested in anti-war protests since President Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, but not one bone-crunching detention has made state TV.

Navigating the paradoxes of Putin’s authoritarian rule is a way of life here. Intuition nourished by a lifetime of state-fed lies gets most people through. And for many it consists of a quiet life with a steady income.

But what’s happening now may be challenging some to push out of the old boundaries of the ‘see but don’t question orthodoxy’ that historically reinforced Putin’s grip on power.

By Tuesday morning in Moscow, more than 1 million signatures had been added to a Russian-language Change.org petition against the war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin is facing stiffer opposition than expected — both inside and outside Ukraine

On Moscow’s streets police vans loiter at most major intersections, riot-ready cops menace the sidewalks, and the city’s fabled Pushkin Square – a once-popular protesters’ haunt – is surrounded by a vast metal barricade.

What’s going on is an all too obvious, overt opposition to Putin’s rule. The cost of joining, the government warns, could be “arrest” and a “criminal record” that “leaves a mark on the person’s future.”

Protests are only considered for approval if requested no more than 15 days in advance and no less than 10, and even then there is no guarantee it will get the nod.

Putin has no reason to publicize the anger at his rule and every reason to snuff it out.

Instead of anti-war protests, the Kremlin’s vast constellation of newspapers, magazines, websites and TV stations keep up a steady drumbeat of anti-Ukrainian propaganda that tries to rationalize the reasons their brothers, sons and husbands have been sent to war, and possibly their deaths, hundreds of miles away.

The Kremlin has all but crushed Russia’s independent media, and is gagging what’s left of them. Ten publications got a letter late last week from the country’s communications watchdog warning them not to use the words “invasion,” “attack” and “declaration of war” under threat of having access to their publications “restricted.”

The same letter said that correct information about the “Special Military Operation” – as the Kremlin calls the war – was freely available on government websites.

But Putin doesn’t control all the narratives all the time. A generation here has grown up willfully ignorant of state disinformation, weaned instead on social media, so are impervious to the lies that cowed their parents. They are, however, still contained by the massive state security infrastructure that is the real muscle behind state media’s messaging.

In short, they think for themselves, want the freedoms that come with that awareness but are bound by the brutality they meet when they protest.

One young woman CNN met on the margins of the first night of protest on Thursday was near tears explaining she loves Russia, but not her leader, so has concluded she must leave the country.

There is a real frustration in that generation, but they are a minority – less than 10% of the nation.

​Indeed, the latest polling by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), a state-owned but nevertheless internationally respected organization, found that 68% of people say they support the decision to carry out the “Special Military Operation,” 22% oppose it and 10% had difficulty answering.

It is a sobering assessment that when Putin puts his finger in the wind of public opinion he can be reasonably sure it is blowing in the direction he instructed his state organs to set it.

CNN’s Nathan Hodge and Jill Dougherty contributed reporting.

The Senate’s Surprise Anti-Putin Radical: Joe Manchin

MARCH 01, 2022
MANCHIN CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION TO END PUTIN’S ABILITY TO USE ENERGY AS A WEAPON

“We Must Compel Every Energy Company To Immediately Cease Any And All Investment, Operations And Production In Russia And Russian Allies.”

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released the following statement calling for immediate actions to be taken to cut off Vladimir Putin’s ability to use energy resources as a weapon of war.

“The brutal war that Vladimir Putin has inflicted on the sovereign democratic nation of Ukraine demands a fundamental rethinking of American national security and our national and international energy policy. The United States, our European allies and the rest of the world cannot be held hostage by the acts of one man. It is simply inexplicable that we and other Western nations continue to spend billions of dollars on energy from Russia. This funding directly supports Putin’s ability to stay in power and execute a war on the people of Ukraine. We cannot decry the atrocities of Putin while simultaneously funding his war. We as Americans must be willing to act now. More importantly, we must commit to leading the world in holding Putin and his oligarchs accountable, to strangle their financial lifelines and to hold all those who would support him equally accountable for the violence they have inflicted on Ukraine.

“First, we must immediately ban the importation of all energy that is sourced from Russia. This ban must be enacted now.

“Second, we must dramatically increase domestic production of energy to support the energy needs of American consumers without causing increased financial burden.

“Third, we must compel every energy company – especially those in the U.S. and other Western nations – to immediately cease any and all investment, operations and production in Russia and in Russian allies. While some companies have already acted, there needs to be a complete commitment to destroying Putin’s economic weapons for the pain and horror he has brought to Europe.

“Fourth, as a nation we must commit to once again achieving complete energy independence by embracing an all-of-the-above energy policy to ensure that the American people have reliable, dependable and affordable power without disregarding our climate responsibilities.

“Finally, we must dramatically increase our military support to our NATO allies and position the necessary forces to deter any escalation or threats to NATO members.

“While we must do everything possible to end this conflict through diplomatic means, we can no longer place the free world’s national or energy security in the hands of Vladimir Putin. The time has come for America to once again lead the world in the fight for democracy and securing freedom. We are the greatest and most powerful nation in the world and we must seize this moment through our leadership.”

A piece which was (presumably by mistake) broadcast on several Putin-approved news channels in Russia. It offers a more candid glimpse of Putin’s plan for post-conquest.

Denazification is the liberation of Ukraine >>
Vladimir Putin has assumed, without a drop of exaggeration, a historic responsibility by deciding not to leave the solution of the Ukrainian question to future generations. After all, the need to solve it would always remain the main problem for Russia – for two key reasons. And the issue of national security, that is, the creation of anti-Russia from Ukraine and an outpost for the West to put pressure on us, is only the second most important among them.

The first would always be the complex of a divided people, the complex of national humiliation – when the Russian house first lost part of its foundation (Kiev), and then was forced to come to terms with the existence of two states, not one, but two peoples. That is, either to abandon their history, agreeing with the insane versions that “only Ukraine is the real Russia,” or to gnash one’s teeth helplessly, remembering the times when “we lost Ukraine.” Returning Ukraine, that is, turning it back to Russia, would be more and more difficult with every decade – recoding, de-Russification of Russians and inciting Ukrainian Little Russians against Russians would gain momentum.
Russia urges other countries to recognize [the puppet “republics”] DPR and LPR – MFA>>
[DOR = Donetsk People’s Republic; LPR = Luhansk People’s Republic; and MFA = Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

Now this problem is gone – Ukraine has returned to Russia. This does not mean that its statehood will be liquidated, but it will be reorganized, re-established and returned to its natural state of part of the Russian world. Within what borders, in what form will the
alliance with Russia be fixed (through the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization. An alliance of several countries formerly part of the USSR] and the Eurasian Union [an economic union of post-Soviet states located in Eastern Europe, Western Asia and Central Asia] or the Union State of Russia and Belarus)? This will be decided after an end to the history of Ukraine as anti-Russia is put. In any case, the period of splitting of the Russian people is coming to an end.

And here begins the second dimension of the coming new era – it
concerns Russia’s relations with the West. Not even Russia, but the
Russian world, that is, three states, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, acting in geopolitical terms as a whole.

These relations have entered a new stage – the West sees Russia’s
return to its historical borders in Europe. And he [“the West”] is loudly indignant about it, although at heart he must confess to himself that there could be no other way.