The strange act of Vladimir Putin between jokes, flowers and stewardesses in full offensive in Ukraine

As millions of Ukrainians wonder if they will ever see the light of day again, the Russian president, Vladimir Putinset out to reinforce this Saturday his usual media position of being above all things, with a visit out of context where he also made jokes.

Without losing his calm or air of self-sufficiency, he also said, among other statements, and out of joke, that the economic sanctions of the western powers were equivalent to “a declaration of war”.

But first, the show. “Masha showed me how the controls work. I moved some commands, it was really good”, Putin said nonchalantly during a visit to a Aeroflotin a meeting with the workers of the Russian flag carrier.

The scenery was not lacking, as careful as his words. In a blue suit, with exuberant green plants behind him, the president exhibited himself in front of a large oval table where twenty uniformed hostesses sat.

In this scenario with surreal nuances and in total contrast to the bombing of the Russian forces in Ukraine, Putin played the pilot for a while moving the controls of one of the commercial ships, and then reiterated the Kremlin’s position that Ukraine must be “land neutral”.

Putin’s act at the Aeroflot Aviation School took place on the same day that the airline – Russia’s largest – announced that As of March 8, it will suspend all its international flights, except for Belarus, citing a high risk that foreign-leased planes will be seized as part of Western sanctions banning aircraft leasing to Russia.

Days ago, Russia’s largest private airline, S7, announced that it would suspend all international flights starting today.

His statements about the war

While he was speaking, the violation of the ceasefire agreed the day before between the two parties to the conflict to let out civilians fleeing their homes to the border was being verified on the battlefront.

“The work of the humanitarian corridors, in particular the one in Mariupol, is impeded by the Ukrainian nationalists”said about one of the cities in southern Ukraine that the Russian forces have between eyebrows and eyebrows to gain control of that sector of the country.

In this way, he continued with the message from his government officials after the suspension of the evacuation in one of the two cities where it had been agreed: according to Kiev, the pause is due to Russian bombing; for the Kremlin, on the other hand, it is a question of a Ukrainian blockade on the exit of civilians. The Ukrainian side “holds more than 6,000 foreigners hostage, but the threat to its citizens is even worse,” he added.

He also referred to the sanctions that Western powers imposed on his country for the invasion of Ukraine, which he described as “a declaration of war.” “These sanctions that are imposed are like a declaration of war,” said the president, who described the West’s position on Ukraine as “absurd.”

In addition, he stressed that Russia would consider as a co-belligerent any country that tries to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine, a measure that Kiev has been demanding unsuccessfully from NATO and that the members of the alliance refuse to undertake for fear of a brutal escalation. .

“Any movement in that direction will be seen by us as participation in an armed conflict by the country that will create threats for our military,” said Putin, who has insisted on reinforcing that message since the beginning of the invasion.

And regarding the operations on the ground, he said, in keeping with his presence of mind, that the military maneuvers are proceeding as planned. “Everything is going completely according to plan. Everything is being done as our General Staff planned it,” Putin said, despite Ukrainian resistance that delayed the advance of Russian troops, as in the country’s capital.

Reuters and ANSA agencies

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