Putin is a modern-day Stalin, says Shapps after Russian leader wins sham election
VLADIMIR PUTIN is behaving like a “modern-day Stalin”, the Defence Secretary says today, after the Russian president won a fifth term in office.
Writing for The Telegraph, Grant Shapps accuses Putin of having stolen the Russian election and having opponents, such as Alexei Navalny, “imprisoned or murdered”. Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia joined a queue of voters outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin at midday yesterday in protest at Putin’s rule.
An exit poll published last night showed Putin had won 88 per cent of the vote on a turnout of 73.3 per cent.
Mr Shapps writes: “He [Putin] of course is going nowhere after stealing Sunday’s so-called election, where political opponents are either imprisoned or murdered. Shockingly, at the end of his next five-year term he will have been in power almost exactly as long as the dictator Joseph Stalin. Putin is behaving like a modern-day Stalin.”
Thousands of people turned up at polling stations in Russia and embassies across the world yesterday to participate in the “Noon against Putin” protest over his re-election. Protesters were told to either spoil their ballot paper or vote for one of the three token candidates standing against Putin.
The Kremlin responded by promising to imprison anyone taking part for up to five years. Putin, 71, served as president from 2000 to 2008 before returning to the role in 2012 after a term as prime minister. He is now set to rule until at least 2030.
Stalin, who succeeded Vladimir Lenin in 1924, was leader of the Soviet Union for 29 years.
Mr Shapps says: “This is a tyrant who the West must stand up to – we have the means, but... we need to show we have the collective will to win.”
Mr Shapps has recently called on Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP to reflect the “more dangerous world”.
On a visit to Ukraine the Defence Secretary said he was forced to abandon part of his trip to the port city of Odesa because of a credible threat that he could be the target of a missile attack. Mr Shapps insisted the Prime Minister was committed to supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes to defeat Putin”.
LIFE in Kyiv is in some ways remarkably normal – bustling streets and a café society that is thriving in the city centre.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking this is like any other European city – the pretence of normality is entirely down to the strength, spirit and resilience of the remarkable Ukrainian people.
As I stood in Kyiv’s St Michael’s Square last week, with bombed-out tanks sprawled across the square, it is hard not to feel a chill run down your back. Shortly afterwards an air-raid siren was blaring.
Even on my third trip to the city since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the dark shadow of Vladimir Putin is never far away.
I had my own brush with the violence of his evil regime when I was forced to abandon part of my trip to the city of Odesa because, we discovered, there was a credible threat that I could be targeted by a missile attack. It came just a day after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were involved in a near-miss.
This gave me an insight into how our friends live every day. There is no escaping the fact that the war to defend Ukraine remains difficult.
Putin has diverted the Russian economy on to a war footing, he does not give a damn about the intolerable death toll his people are suffering on the front line.
And he of course is going nowhere after stealing yesterday’s so-called election, where political opponents are either imprisoned or murdered.
Shockingly, at the end of his next five-year term he will have been in power almost exactly as long as the dictator Joseph Stalin. Putin is behaving like a modern-day Stalin.
This is a tyrant whom the West must stand up to – we have the means, but as I said standing in front of Saint Michael’s Golden-domed Monastery, we need to show we have a will to win.
That is why Rishi Sunak is committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Putin. And it is why everyday Ukrainians are incredibly grateful to our Prime Minister and the British public.
The UK won’t let the West forget how vital it is that we stand together. Because the cost of losing this war to Russia will be far greater than the cost of fighting and winning.
And while the going is tough on the front line in the east, in the past six months our Ukrainian friends have transformed the battle around Crimea sinking a large proportion of Putin’s Black Sea Fleet. So much so that the Russian fleet has now practically left Crimea. It has allowed grain to once again be exported at levels not seen since before 2022.
Britain is using every lever to back Ukraine and last week I chaired a session of the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force – a military partnership of go-ahead northern European countries – where we discussed how we can do even more to support Ukraine.
Since the outset, the UK has led by example. This has included a record £2.5 billion commitment in 2024. When I met Mr Zelensky last week he embraced me, saying how massively thankful he was to Rishi Sunak and the British people for our support. I told him that we are committed to Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Putin.
In the future, I hope visitors to Kyiv will simply be there to admire the city. But for now, we must focus on ensuring that our brave Ukrainian friends win a battle of freedom that they are fighting on our behalf.