{"id":45138,"date":"2024-05-07T15:58:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/07\/isolated-from-west-putin-projects-domestic-power-at-inauguration\/"},"modified":"2024-05-07T15:58:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:58:10","slug":"isolated-from-west-putin-projects-domestic-power-at-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/07\/isolated-from-west-putin-projects-domestic-power-at-inauguration\/","title":{"rendered":"Isolated From West, Putin Projects Domestic Power at Inauguration"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07Russia-Putin-promo\/07Russia-Putin-01-wkpz-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Isolated From West, Putin Projects Domestic Power at Inauguration\" title=\"Isolated From West, Putin Projects Domestic Power at Inauguration\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vladimir V. Putin was inaugurated for a fifth term as president on Tuesday in a ceremony filled with pageantry and a televised church service, as the Russian leader tried once more to depict his invasion of Ukraine as a religiously righteous mission that is part of \u201cour 1,000-year history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin took the presidential oath \u2014 swearing to \u201crespect and safeguard the rights and freedoms of man and citizen\u201d \u2014 with his hand on a red-bound copy of Russia\u2019s Constitution, the 1993 document that guarantees many of the democratic rights that he has spent much of his 25-year rule rolling back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin was re-elected in March in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/17\/world\/europe\/russia-putin-election.html#:~:text=President%20Vladimir%20V.,and%20his%20invasion%20of%20Ukraine.\" title=\"\">a rubber-stamp contest<\/a> that Western nations dismissed as a sham. If he serves the full six years of his new term, he will become the longest-serving Russian leader since Empress Catherine the Great in the 18th century.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTogether, we will be victorious!\u201d Mr. Putin said at the end of a speech after he took the oath in the Kremlin\u2019s gilded St. Andrew\u2019s Hall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ceremony was replete with pomp: An honor guard marched ahead of Mr. Putin. Elaborate chandeliers hung overhead and supporters stood behind a velvet rope applauding as the Russian leader strode to the stage. Outside, a heavy snow fell, unusual in May, even for Moscow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin offered no new policy details in his speech, even though analysts expect him to make some changes to the makeup of his government later this week. He also said nothing about <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/06\/world\/europe\/russia-tactical-nuclear-weapons-drills.html\" title=\"\">the tactical nuclear weapons drills<\/a> that his military announced on Monday. (Russia\u2019s neighbor and ally, Belarus, had <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belta.by\/society\/view\/v-vooruzhennyh-silah-nachalas-vnezapnaja-proverka-sredstv-nositelej-nestrategicheskogo-jadernogo-632924-2024\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> its own snap exercises on Tuesday of the forces charged with being trained to use the nuclear weapons that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/14\/world\/europe\/belarus-russia-nuclear-weapons.html\" title=\"\">Russia stationed in there last year<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a departure from the broadcasts of previous inaugurations, Russian state television dwelled at length on the church service blessing Mr. Putin after he delivered his speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe head of state must sometimes make fateful and fearsome decisions,\u201d Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was shown telling Mr. Putin inside the Cathedral of the Annunciation on the Kremlin grounds. \u201cAnd if such a decision is not made, the consequences can be extremely dangerous for the people and the state. But these decisions are almost always associated with victims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The scene underscored the Kremlin\u2019s intensifying efforts to give a religious sheen to Mr. Putin\u2019s rule and to cast his invasion of Ukraine as justified in Russia\u2019s Christian tradition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ksenia Luchenko, an expert on Russian Orthodox Christianity at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the patriarch\u2019s speech also appeared designed to hand Mr. Putin a religious carte blanche for any future violence he might unleash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt looks like, \u2018Do whatever you want, because we trust you completely,\u2019\u201d Ms. Luchenko said in a phone interview. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to sacralize any decision\u201d Mr. Putin makes, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his inauguration speech, Mr. Putin also repeated his call for talks that many critics see as tantamount to a demand for capitulation by the West and Ukraine. \u201cWe do not reject dialogue with Western states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI will repeat that talks, including on issues of strategic stability, are possible,\u201d he added, referring to arms-control negotiations with the United States that have been stalled since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. \u201cBut only on equal terms, respecting each other\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Isolated from the West and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/17\/world\/europe\/icc-putin-ukraine-war.html\" title=\"\">under indictment by the International Criminal Court<\/a>, Mr. Putin is projecting a power domestically that seems stronger than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur president has the highest powers, more than the American president and even the Russian czar,\u201d said Gennady A. Zyuganov, the leader of Russia\u2019s Communist Party, as he arrived at the ceremony in the Kremlin. \u201cA lot depends on him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 2,000 government officials, prominent supporters and administrators who are part of Russia\u2019s institutions in occupied Ukraine had gathered to witness the tightly stage-managed inauguration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As supporters assembled, they shared a message demonstrating Mr. Putin\u2019s iron grip on their loyalty: that he would keep Russia stable, strong and peaceful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among the first to arrive was the American actor Steven Seagal, who said of Russia\u2019s future, \u201cWith President Putin, it will be the best.\u201d (Mr. Putin <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/25\/world\/europe\/steven-seagal-russian-passport-putin.html\" title=\"\">personally handed<\/a> Mr. Seagal a Russian passport in 2016.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin\u2019s preordained election in March delivered him more than 87 percent of the vote, according to Russian election officials, with a voter turnout of almost 80 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAlmost all the country voted for him,\u201d said Aleksandr P. Petrov, a deputy in the Duma, Russia\u2019s lower house of Parliament, striking the tone of absolute loyalty on display at the Kremlin. \u201cOur support for the president is absolute, because our vision of development is taking place in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin pronounced the brief oath standing next to Valery Zorkin, the head of the Constitutional Court \u2014 a body that has steadfastly upheld Mr. Putin\u2019s rollback of the democratic rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/12\/29\/world\/europe\/russia-ukraine-war-censorship.html\" title=\"\">crackdown<\/a> has been chilling to critics of Mr. Putin\u2019s government. Just about all well-known opposition politicians have been jailed. The most prominent, Aleksei A. Navalny, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/16\/world\/europe\/aleksei-navalny-dead.html\" title=\"\">died<\/a> in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, condemned Mr. Putin\u2019s inauguration in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CCCkw2H1VbM&amp;ab_channel=%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a video posted on YouTube<\/a> on Tuesday morning,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur country is being led by a liar, a thief and a murderer,\u201d said Ms. Navalnaya, who lives outside of Russia. \u201cBut this will definitely come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ahead of Tuesday\u2019s inauguration, Ukraine called on its allies not to recognize Mr. Putin as the legitimate president, citing the illegal holding of presidential elections in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Most Western countries <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/france-sends-envoy-putin-inauguration-berlin-boycotts-2024-05-06\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">boycotted<\/a> the ceremony, although France sent its ambassador; the United States did not send a representative but the State Department said it would continue to recognize Mr. Putin as Russia\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and is going to continue in that capacity,\u201d Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As in the past, the tightly scripted state television broadcast melded ceremonial pomp and a depiction of Mr. Putin as a humble, workmanlike leader. Before the ceremony, Mr. Putin was shown getting up from his desk, casually flipping through a sheaf of paper, walking down long and narrow corridors, passing uniformed guards and stepping into a Russian-made limousine that carried him across the Kremlin grounds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Mr. Putin was heading to the Kremlin for the ceremony, the chairman of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, told journalists that the Russian president was the envy of the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur president is the most effective leader among other countries,\u201d Mr. Volodin said. \u201cThey envy us, and the tasks before us are understandable and clear, like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Ivan Nechepurenko, Alina Lobzina, Oleg Matsnev, Aurelien Breeden and Constant M\u00e9heut contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/07\/world\/europe\/putin-inauguration-russia.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vladimir V. Putin was inaugurated for a fifth term as president on Tuesday in a ceremony filled with pageantry and a televised church service, as the Russian leader tried once more to depict his invasion of Ukraine as a religiously righteous mission that is part of \u201cour 1,000-year history.\u201d Mr. Putin took the presidential oath [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07Russia-Putin-promo\/07Russia-Putin-01-wkpz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6435,3184,46170,2974,8471,209,6501],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45140,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45138\/revisions\/45140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}