By Anton Troianovski: As he watches Europe’s confrontation with President Donald
Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be enjoying an “I told you
so” moment.
European leaders long ignored his warnings
about the dangers of a world dominated by the United States, Mr. Putin said
Thursday during his nationally broadcast annual call-in show. With Trump’s new
metals tariffs, Mr. Putin said, Europeans are now finally getting their
comeuppance for showing excessive deference to Washington - and getting a taste
of the way the United States had long treated Russia.
“In essence, these are sanctions,” Mr.
Putin said of the tariffs. “What, did they ‘annex Crimea,‘ as many of our
partners say?”
Mr. Putin went on: “Our partners probably
thought that these counterproductive policies would never affect them. . . . No
one wanted to listen, and no one wanted to do anything to stop these
tendencies. Here we are.”
One of the show’s hosts responded, “They
got what they deserved.”
Mr. Putin’s 16th call-in marathon, which
lasted 4½ uninterrupted hours, provided a window into the president’s mind-set
- and a prime display of the stagecraft that the Kremlin deploys to boost Mr.
Putin’s image and promote his worldview to Russian households. During the
broadcast, state TV correspondents fanned out nationwide to deliver live
footage of Russians showing their leaky floors or describing the sorry state of
their small-town hospitals. After hearing a complaint, Mr. Putin often turned
to one of Russia’s scores of state governors who were at the ready in live
video feeds.
“You need to find out who these officials
are,” Mr. Putin told Gov. Sergey Zhvachkin after the head of the Tomsk region
blamed a mother’s problems obtaining land for her family on poorly informed
officials.
The videoconferencing element was a new
addition to the yearly call-in show. It was the latest example - on the heels
of last month’s elaborately choreographed presidential inauguration and Mr.
Putin’s opening of a new bridge to Crimea - of the Kremlin’s work to hone the
theater of Mr. Putin’s made-for-TV presidency. Although polls show that Mr.
Putin remains popular, the fact that he first became president 18 years ago
means the Kremlin needs to ward off any public fatigue with the leader.
Mr. Putin didn’t fire any of his governors
on live television, as some Russian journalists had speculated he might. But
the leader’s lectures to officials that they must do better to resolve people’s
daily problems helped deliver the underlying message, which many Russians accept,
that any difficulties they face in their lives are the fault of Mr. Putin’s
subordinates rather than the president.
Mr. Putin also used the interview to cast
himself as a pragmatist who wasn’t always going to take a hard line on foreign
policy or civil rights.
In response to a question calling on him to
enact sanctions against Latvia for allegedly mistreating ethnic Russians there,
Mr. Putin said he wanted to resolve the situation with talks and not with any
measures that would make matters worse. Asked by a young blogger whether the
government had plans to shut down Instagram and YouTube, Mr. Putin insisted
that it does not.
There were no questions about Russian
interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, but Mr. Putin brought up the
subject. One of the hosts asked him to tell a joke. Mr. Putin mentioned seeing
a German news headline declaring, “Donald Trump pushes Europe into Putin’s
arms.”
“So, we influenced the U.S. elections, and
he gifted us Europe in return?” he asked. “Utter idiocy. You can’t describe
this as anything other than a joke.”
Seconds later, Mr. Putin was asked what
piece of advice from his father would he like to pass on to his grandchildren.
“Don’t lie,” the Russian president said.
Mr. Putin also said Thursday in his annual
marathon call-in show that Russian troops will remain in Syria as long as
Moscow thinks it’s necessary, but Russia isn’t building permanent facilities in
the only Middle East country where it has a military foothold.
The troops “will stay there for as long as
it is to Russia’s advantage, and to fulfill our international
responsibilities,” the Russian leader said during his annual televised call-in
show. But, he added, “we are not building long-term installations there and if
necessary can withdraw our servicemen quite quickly without any material
losses.”
Mr. Putin didn’t elaborate under what
circumstances Russia could leave or on Moscow’s broader strategy for Syria.
Russia uses leased facilities for ships at Tartus and for an air base in
Hemeimeem.
The Associated Press contributed.
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