“The necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country,” the Russian leader believes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for “self-cleansing” to rid his country of anyone who doubts his invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Putin went on television to denounce the Russians for not supporting him in the attack on Ukraine, accusing NATO countries of using instigators to stir up opposition to the war.
“[Russians] will always be able to distinguish real patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally flew into their mouths, ”he said. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country.”
He said the West was using a “fifth column” of traitorous Russians to stir up civil unrest.
“And there is only one goal, I have already spoken about it – the destruction of Russia,” he said.
The speech seemed to be a warning that his authoritarian rule, which had hardened since the February 24 invasion, the shutdown of Russian news outlets and the arrests of protesters, could become even more repressive.
In a sign of this, Russian law enforcement has announced the first known criminal cases under a new law that provides for a 15-year prison sentence for posting what is considered “false information” about the war in Ukraine.
Among the defendants was Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Russian-language cookbook author and blogger living abroad.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that many people in Russia are showing themselves to be “traitors” and pointed to those who quit their jobs and leave the country.
“In these difficult times…many people show their true colors. A lot of people show themselves to be, as we say in Russian, traitors,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a conference call.
The comments were welcomed in parliament by Gennady Zyuganov, head of the nominally opposition Communist Party, which often backs Putin on important policy issues.
“We need to defeat the fifth column, which has settled inside and is ready to stab us in the back at any moment,” Zyuganov said. “All these troubles began in 1991, when [modern Russia’s first president Boris] Yeltsin and his clique sold and betrayed the country.”
“Source of Death”
Since Putin ordered a land, air and sea invasion of Ukraine, the independent monitoring group OVD-Info has reported more than 14,000 arrests in connection with anti-war activities, according to its website. Of these, more than 170 people were taken into custody.
Russia demanded that NATO pledge never to accept Ukraine into the alliance and not to deploy its forces there.
Earlier Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the U.S. Congress via video link and, citing Pearl Harbor and the September 11, 2001 attacks, pleaded with the United States for more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying, “We need you right now.” “.
Zelensky added that Russia “turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death.”
Although Moscow’s ground offensive against the Ukrainian capital has largely stalled, Putin said the operation is progressing “successfully, in strict accordance with pre-approved plans.”
He also denounced Western sanctions against Moscow, accusing the West of trying to “put pressure on us, put pressure on us, turn us into a weak, dependent country.”
