This week, Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Russian newspaper, concluded: "It is unclear for Vladimir Putin to back down. Therefore, he will still attack."
Cue St George' Hall of the Kremlin Palace and therefore the arguable linguistic communication ceremony before of MPs, senators and officials.
Vladimir Putin' call to annex the four Ukrainian territories ("incorporate" in Kremlinspeak) is that the Russian president' latest offensive in his battle with Ukrayiny and the West.
Through annexation, the Kremlin is attempting to alter the facts on the bottom (at a time once Russia has been losing ground in Ukraine).
mister Putin desires to gift a accomplishment to Kyiv and to the West.
It raises the stakes significantly within the president' standoff with Ukrayina and therefore the Western world.
The Kremlin event was carefully choreographed for optimal patriotic effect: mass applause for the President from the invited audience; a moving rendition of the national anthem; and Mr. Putin and 4 Kremlin-appointed directors clashing guns over the annexed territories and shouting Russia.
Especially withinside the mild of the so-called "referendums" withinside the occupied territories, which had been now no longer actual referendums at all. They had been Kremlin-conceived, Kremlin-managed occasions designed as a smokescreen for Moscow to seize 15% of Ukraine's territory. Ukraine will now no longer receive this annexation; neither will the worldwide network as a whole.
"The United States will by no means, by no means, by no means understand Russia's declare on Ukraine sovereign territory," US President Joe Biden stated on Thursday, whilst UN Secretary General António Guterres had already stated the annexation "could haven't any felony cost and merits to be condemned"
But that also leaves the question: what now? How will Mr Putin reply while Ukrainian troops push directly to attempt to reclaim their land?
Russia has already warned that any assault on its "new territories" can be regarded as an assault at the territorial integrity of Russia. The Kremlin says it reserves the proper to reply "with all way to be had to it".
This possibly includes nuclear weapons. In current weeks, senior Russian officers had been losing unsubtle guidelines approximately Moscow's nuclear arsenal.
In his speech today, Vladimir Putin stated the US had created a "precedent" through the usage of nuclear guns in opposition to Japan on the quit of World War Two. That remark might not have long gone disregarded through Western governments.
Russia's nuclear sabre-damn has been inflicting problem withinside the West. But it is disturbing humans interior Russia, too. This week, a piece of writing withinside the country's mainstream Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper become closely important of "senior Russian officers" for making "nuclear threats".
What struck me maximum approximately President Putin's annexation speech become simply how complete it become of anti-Western bile. The Russian president appears set on whipping up nationalistic, anti-Western sentiment withinside the country. It's a beneficial diversion from the troubles at domestic and the battlefields of Ukraine.