Putin Shows Strong Authoritarian and Nationalist Tendencies... Repeatedly Lectures Western Leaders on History

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Testimonies have emerged that Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown more authoritarian and nationalist tendencies compared to before.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 23rd (Korean time), the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom recently felt that they could not communicate at all when meeting and talking with President Putin. These leaders held consecutive summits in an attempt to persuade President Putin to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

However, after President Putin declared on the 21st that he recognized the pro-Russian separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states and ordered Russian troops to enter, these summits ultimately failed to achieve their intended effect.

In particular, French President Emmanuel Macron, who prided himself on a personal friendship with President Putin, reportedly felt the change more sensitively. A close aide to President Macron said, "President Putin tended to ramble while revising history during conversations with President Macron." The change was even more evident when President Macron visited Russia and met President Putin on the 7th. A French official also conveyed President Macron’s assessment that "President Putin became more hardline and isolated, fundamentally ideological and security-oriented."

President Putin called President Macron one hour before announcing the recognition of the independent states in eastern Ukraine to inform him of the decision. When President Macron expressed concern, President Putin reportedly launched into a passionate historical and political discourse.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who met President Putin in Russia on the 15th, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spoke with President Putin by phone on the 2nd, also reportedly had the same impression. President Putin is said to have given them history lessons, warning against the improvement of relations between the West and Ukraine while asserting the special relationship between Russia and Ukraine.

The WSJ pointed out that President Putin has recently shown particular discomfort when his explanations about the relationship between Russia and Ukraine are not accepted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described recent diplomacy between Russia and the West as "a conversation between someone who cannot speak and someone who cannot hear."

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