An electric shock. While the Russian “special military operation” began more than seven months ago, Vladimir Putin plunged his country a little deeper into the conflict by ordering a partial mobilization of 300,000 men who were supposed to support soldiers already committed to Ukraine. Since then, the country has directly faced a war that until then had remained abstract for a large part of the population, which generated a strong wave of protest.
Putin’s figure weakens
A guest on BFMTV this Monday night, Alexandre Melnik, a former diplomat in Moscow, believes that Russia is currently experiencing “a turning point”. Since last Wednesday, an estimated 260,000 men have left the country to avoid mobilization, while acts of violence or desperation around recruiting offices increase. “It is proof of the negligence, of the disorder that exists at the top of power. It is an agony. Putin has no roadmap, he is trying to save his skin but the ground is giving way under his feet”, explains the diplomat.
“This is Putin’s war, not Russia’s,” he concludes.
According to Alexandre Melnik, the Russian president in office since 2000 (except for a hiatus as prime minister between 2008 and 2012, editor’s note) has broken the tacit contract he had with his population.
“Putin provides security and stability and can encroach on civil liberties, but we see that he does not provide anything at all.”
“Putin had based his strategy on the verticality of power to ensure the solidity of Russia. Revolts take place in isolated republics, verticality collapses. Putin calls for patriotism, but the mayonnaise is not taken, there is no more patriotic impulse”, explains Alexandre Melnik, who also criticizes the leader for “not having expressed his message” of mobilization, for having remained “cold”.
unreleased slingshot
The other element is becoming fully aware of this situation of tension is the fossé générationnel that can exist between the government in place and the young Russians “educated, ‘globalized’, eager for voyages, who veulent communicate with the foreigner, continue to to live”.
“Putin is depriving Russia, the youth, the living forces of his country, of a future,” explains Alexandre Melnik.
“This is the factor that triggers the mobilization. Before it was abstract, but now the war is knocking on all the doors of Russian houses, entering homes, awakening consciences. Society is in turmoil, we live in an increasingly fast world where everything can speed up. Russians have an aspiration to live a normal life,” the diplomat concluded.
As a confession or a desire to smooth things over, the Kremlin on Monday acknowledged “mistakes” during the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists. Without explaining how, the presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, promised that they would be corrected.
Source: BFM TV
