The conflict in Ukraine reveals who the “traitors” in Russia are and a “purification” of the country, the Kremlin said on Thursday, returning to the very harsh words of President Vladimir Putin the day before.
“In such situations, many people turn out to be traitors and leave our lives on their own. Some quit, some leave the country. It is a purification. Others break the law and are punished in accordance with the law,” explained Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian presidency.
An undetermined but significant number of Russians have left Russia in the past three weeks due to the tightening imposed by the Russian authorities since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“But a lot of people actually want to support our president, and that’s the overwhelming majority,” Peskov noted.
In an offensive speech to his government broadcast on television, President Putin on Wednesday strongly defended his military operation in Ukraine and compared the West and its sanctions against Russia to the Nazis during World War II.
According to him, “the empire of lies” constituted by Western countries, the media and social networks will want to rely on “a fifth column of national-traitors” to achieve their anti-Russian objectives.
“Each people, especially the Russian people, will always be able to recognize scum and traitors, spit them out as one would spit out a fly from the mouth,” Mr. Putin had said.
“I am sure that such real and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country,” he said.