REPLAY: Vladimir Putin hails military and law enforcement for 'stopping a civil war'
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Transcript
00:00 That continued, the people working for the Interior Ministry, the Defence Minister, the
00:10 soldiers and officers, the real defenders of the nation, who worked together and they
00:21 did not flinch and continued with honour to carry out their military duty.
00:29 I ask that you honour their memory with a minute of silence for those who have fallen.
00:55 The people of Russia and the troops who have sworn to their duty have shown their responsibility
01:05 for the fate of our country and its future.
01:10 All the special services and forces have carried out their work in very important areas, in
01:17 strategic areas, including in defending facilities, providing security of border areas, behind
01:26 the lines, all the military formations that continue heroically conducting this war.
01:35 So we did not have to detach any of our formations from the war in Ukraine.
01:42 We have had some of our servicemen, some pilots who died.
01:51 They did not flinch.
01:53 They honoured their military duty, carried it out.
01:56 I would ask that you honour their memory with a minute of silence.
02:15 Distinguished comrades, resolution and courage and consolidation of all of
02:45 Russia's society has played a decisive role in stabilising the situation.
02:52 There were people who drew others into this mutiny, but you see the army and the people
02:57 very quickly, as well as the very rapidly deployed forces, were able to nip in the bud
03:06 this dangerous development in the country.
03:11 Defending victims among the civilian population, I thank you, various parties of the armed
03:21 forces and special services.
03:23 I thank you for your service, for your valour and your courage and your faithfulness to
03:30 the people of Russia.
03:53 We've just been listening there to a translation of a speech that Vladimir Putin, the Russian
03:57 President has just given to senior military defence and security officials there in Moscow
04:02 in front of the Kremlin.
04:04 Listening to that excerpt with me is Doug Herbert, our international affairs commentator.
04:09 Optics is everything at a moment like this, isn't it, Doug?
04:13 I note that he talked there about the war in Ukraine.
04:16 He talked about the troops that have been lost.
04:19 Clearly he's looking for an image of unity at a time where he is both under attack, both
04:27 at a sort of from beyond Russia, but within Russia.
04:30 Yeah.
04:31 And it's also reinforcing that message from last night that the mutineers never had the
04:35 support of the Russian population in Putin's narrative.
04:37 And none of them that the Russian people remain four square rock solid in support behind the
04:44 Russian army, behind the Russian nation and behind the Russian state, so to speak, you
04:51 know, and they all wanted to quell the rebellion.
04:54 What's remarkable here, I think, in the mechanics of this ceremony was that minute of silence
04:59 for for fallen Russian forces, because, you know, by some estimates, by the estimates,
05:05 including the Institute for the Study of War, there have been tens of thousands, if not
05:08 hundreds of thousands of Russian casualties in this war in Ukraine about which you hear
05:13 almost nothing.
05:14 The official Russian estimate of how many Russians have actually the death toll from
05:19 this 16 months now of war of aggression against Ukraine has been absurdly downplayed and minimized
05:26 and never talked about.
05:27 And the Russians aren't seeing bodies coming home on their television.
05:31 So the very fact that Putin has chosen right now to pay homage to fallen troops without
05:36 specifying how many were killed, you know, we had heard some Russian military bloggers
05:40 put the number of 13 Russian fighters who were killed there, their their aircraft, their
05:46 helicopters shot down by by Prigozhin's forces.
05:50 The fact that there was a moment of silence here and an acknowledgment of fallen soldiers,
05:56 that in itself shows the lengths to which Putin is going in order to shore up his support,
06:03 in order to project an image of everything's fine, nothing to see here, carry on an image
06:09 of normality.
06:10 I will note that according to the initial reports I had, this speech and you might raise
06:14 an eyebrow at this, Annette, was not shown live on Russian television.
06:19 And I suspect you'd say, well, why wouldn't it be shown live on Russian television?
06:23 The Russian president is addressing the nation last night.
06:25 It was it was carried live.
06:26 If in fact it turns out that Russian state TV, if we could, if that is confirmed that
06:30 it was not carried live, perhaps it is really meant to be more of a message really from
06:35 Putin to the troops.
06:37 And he doesn't want to for the Russian population to have to focus too much on that homage to
06:42 the fallen soldiers.
06:43 He wants to acknowledge them, but he wants to acknowledge them in a way that the entire
06:46 Russian nation perhaps doesn't have to be in on.
06:49 This was sort of a private ceremony, a private tribute, and one that is as much limited in
06:54 the in the information sharing.
06:56 Of course, it's going to be all over telegram.
06:58 Of course, that Russians are going to be able to watch it through other means if in fact
07:02 it wasn't shown live on state TV.
07:04 But it does show, in my estimation, the fact that Putin is going through these motions
07:09 right now, the fact that he is having to whip up and the drums of patriotism at this time
07:15 shows that whatever he might be saying publicly, privately, he does know that this was a moment
07:21 that proved his vulnerability.
07:23 He knows it.
07:24 He knows that he's in a precarious position and he knows that he has the clock is ticking
07:27 and he has little time to now really shore up his support and project that image of Russians
07:33 before people around him could perhaps start to make those calculations.
07:36 How weak is he?
07:37 Should we move against?
07:38 You mentioned there that there are reports that it wasn't broadcast live on Russian domestic
07:43 TV.
07:44 So therefore, is it not also for the international audience?
07:48 Here we are sitting talking about it.
07:50 He obviously wants to project an image because Putin is very much aware of what the narrative
07:55 has been beyond Russia.
07:58 Everyone, all of the headlines, basically Putin humiliated, Putin weakened, maybe nil-nil
08:05 Prigozhin Putin because both men sort of in a sense came out as losers in a certain way
08:10 from this uprising and the turmoil over the weekend.
08:14 But I do think he's trying to send a message, especially to the West at a time where two
08:17 weeks ahead of a crucial NATO gathering in Vilnius at which they're supposed to talk
08:23 about and raise the question of how to best support Ukraine if they're unable right now
08:27 in the near future immediately to take it in as a NATO member.
08:30 They've sort of signaled that's not going to happen.
08:33 How can they help Ukraine?
08:34 How can they shore up support?
08:35 We have the U.S. today about to announce another package of $500 million in support to Ukraine.
08:41 We have Germany, which announced yesterday that it is going to be upping substantially
08:45 its personnel and troop presence in Lithuania, a NATO member from several hundred right now,
08:50 I believe just over 400 to 4,000.
08:53 Putin's very much aware of this narrative right now that perhaps this is a time where
08:58 the West is hunkering down trying to support Ukraine more than ever.
09:01 And at the same time, he wants to fight back by showing that don't count me out too fast.
09:06 I'm still very much here.
09:08 I'm still very much in power.
09:10 Watch everyone rallying behind me, surrounding the fences behind me.
09:14 Putin isn't going quietly into the night.