The workers and soldiers are the true elite of Russia, rather than those who got rich through shady means, President Vladimir Putin has said

Edit: I didn’t post the following quotes to say he’s a communist. He’s pivoting to centre-left positions with his rhetoric and 6 year plan. He called for reducing poverty by 2% in 6 years and for progressive taxation on the rich.

The true elite are all those serving Russia. Workers and soldiers, reliable, trustable, who have proven their devotion to Russia, the worthy people.

“The very word ‘elite’ has largely been discredited by those who, having no merit to society, consider themselves to be some kind of a caste with special rights and privileges. I specifically mean those who, in previous years, filled their pockets through all sorts of processes in the economy of the 1990s. Those are definitely not the elite,” the president said.

  • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    103·
    8 months ago

    I mean he definitely sees Ukraine as part of Russia, and I didn’t mean that in the way you assume I did but in the very literal sense. I meant that part as a neutral statement, national boundries and border lines shifting outside my control really doesn’t concern me.

    • Kaplya [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      211·
      8 months ago

      If Putin had wanted the Donbass part of Ukraine, he wouldn’t have given them back to Ukraine via Minsk and stupidly waited 8 years to realize that the Ukrainian fascists had no intention of honoring Minsk at all.

      Giving back Crimea is out of the question for any Russian leader, left or right, but Putin clearly didn’t want to deal with the shit happening in Donbass. It was the communists who continued to materially aid the Donbass militias and citizens throughout the entire truce period.

      The Ukrainian fascist coup regime refused to honor Minsk because it explicitly forbade them from committing ethnic cleansing in the region. Apart from that, they were not going to lose anything apart from Crimea. It was an exceedingly generous peace terms from Russia.

      By refusing to honor Minsk and continuing the genocide, they literally forced Russia to intervene militarily. I guarantee you that if Russia had been run by socialists, they would have taken actions against Ukraine far sooner than Putin would have.