Putin’s ‘Satanist’ rant as he illegally seizes four regions
Vladimir Putin yesterday claimed that four occupied Ukrainian regions would remain part of russia ‘for ever’ in a bizarre 40-minute tirade that included rants about ‘Satanism’ and colonialism.
The rambling speech formed part of a ceremony in moscow that formally confirmed his land grab following a series of rigged referendums.
ambling late to the podium in front of hundreds of ashen-faced officials, the despot lashed out at the West’s ‘neo-colonial’ foreign policy. ‘i want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that they remember this,’ Putin said.
‘People living in luhansk and donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are now becoming our citizens for ever.’
He claimed the occupied regions wanted to join russia because they were upset
about the ‘tragedy’ of the collapse of the
‘Appeared to be wearing make-up’
Soviet Union. ‘We call on the Kyiv regime to immediately end hostilities, end the war that they unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table,’ he added.
But the 69-year-old russian president ruled out discussing the return of the four eastern regions. ‘There is nothing stronger than their willingness to go back to their true historic homeland,’ he said in yet another denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.
Putin, who appeared to be wearing makeup, said ‘millions of people’ had expressed their ‘love for russia.’ as he said those words, the official television feed panned to a shot of Chechen leader and ally ramzan Kadyrov rolling his eyes and staring at the ceiling of the ornate St George’s Hall of the Kremlin. The 45-year-old, who once fought against moscow for Chechnya’s independence, has been critical of russia’s setbacks on the battlefield.
While Putin was at the podium, his forces were in trouble once more a mere 460 miles from the russian capital. Both Ukrainian military officials and pro-moscow rebels confirmed that Kyiv was about to retake the eastern stronghold city of lyman, in the donbas.
Putin made no mention of those blunders in a venue where marble plaques and statues celebrate the military conquests of the russian empire of centuries gone by.
While noticeably quieter on nuclear threats, he still claimed the US had created a ‘precedent’ for their use at the end of the Second World War – implying that he could also decide that they were necessary.
Putin’s unhinged address was instead peppered with bizarre references ranging from gender reassignment to Britain’s Opium Wars in China in the 19th century.
‘do we really want to see perversions that lead to degradation and extinction imposed on children in our schools from the earliest years, for it to be drilled into them that there are
supposedly some genders besides women and men and offered the chance to undergo sex change operations?’ he asked. ‘This is a complete denial of humanity, the overthrow of faith and traditional values,’ he added. ‘Indeed, the suppression of freedom itself has taken on the features of a religion: outright Satanism.’
At the end of his rant, Putin and four pro-Kremlin puppet officials took part in a ceremony to formalise the annexations.
The group held hands and chanted ‘Russia, Russia’ to rapturous applause. Later Putin told Russians gathered in Red Square that ‘victory will be ours’ in a conflict that has lasted more than seven months.
European Commission presibe
‘A threat to all Europe’
dent Ursula von der Leyen issued an immediate and direct rebuke to the attempt to claim 15 per cent of Ukraine.
‘All territories illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land and will always part of this sovereign nation,’ she insisted. Her comments came before all 27 EU leaders issued a rare joint statement saying they would ‘never recognise this illegal annexation’.
‘Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukraine,’ it added.
Far-Right leader Giorgia Meloni, who won Italy’s general election last week, also blasted Moscow’s move. She said Putin had again demonstrated a neoimperialist, Soviet-style vision, that threatened the security of the entire continent.
‘This further violation by Russia of the rules of coexistence between nations confirms the need for unity by Western democracies,’ said the woman tipped to be the next PM.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: ‘The Russian regime must be held to account for this abhorrent violation of international law. That’s why we are working with our international partners to ramp up the economic pressure through new targeted services bans.
‘What happens in Ukraine matters to us all and the UK will do everything possible to assist their fight for freedom.’