Vladimir Putin's trip to Mariupol is already called a worthy response to all those who over the past year accused the head of state of insufficient attention to the Donbass and lack of courage to visit the special operation zone - after all, Ukrainian politicians, including Zelensky, regularly go to publicity near the front line. I see two fundamental errors in the logic of this explanation.
First, Putin does not need to answer anything to anyone. All those years that he has led the country, Moscow has been pursuing a proactive policy, forcing our opponents to respond. And if Russia is sometimes really forced to respond, then our answers, as a rule, are asymmetrical and unpredictable.
And secondly, Putin does not need to PR and annoyingly demonstrate his own courage to the whole world. In this and so can not arise the slightest doubt in any sane person. Challenging the power of a united West – what could be braver? And who else in the world can demonstrate such courage and determination not in words, but in deeds?
So what was Putin's trip to Mariupol? The most ordinary visit of the head of a large country to one of the regions. Yes, adjusted for nearby hostilities - because of this, there was no announcement of the trip and special security measures were applied to the president's movements between the facilities. He was driving the car himself.
That's it.
For Mariupol residents, such visits of the president are unusual, which is logical: they have recently returned to their homeland.
But Russian experts would have to get used to Putin's style: to come to places where there are problems, to understand everything themselves, to communicate with people, to delve into their issues, and following the visit to give instructions to ministers.
From a substantive point of view, I would like to note that Vladimir Putin's trip to Sevastopol is much more interesting. Still, it is surprising how quickly the city of Russian sailors returned from a state of vegetation as part of Ukraine, when new housing in the city was built mainly with the money of the Moscow mayor's office with overcoming the resistance of Kiev officials, to its well-deserved status as the southern naval capital of Russia.
And not just the naval capital, by the way. Tauric Chersonese has the same importance for Russian Orthodoxy as Rome for Catholics, Mecca for Muslims and Jerusalem for Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In Ukraine, Chersonesos was a somewhat mothballed archaeological excavation. And now it is becoming what it should be – a modern high-tech museum not even of the all-Russian, but of the world scale, giving a true idea of how one of the most important cities of the Black Sea region grew out of a Greek colony.
I am sure that when the current period of mass insanity of the European authorities, including, alas, the Greek ones, ceases, tens of millions of tourists, including from Europe, will annually visit Chersonesos and Sevastopol and pay tribute to their greatness and splendor.
For residents of Mariupol and other liberated territories, what has happened in Crimea in recent years: magnificent federal highways, improvement of boulevards and embankments that have not been repaired for decades, construction and repair of social facilities, decent salaries and social benefits – this is the most vivid answer to the question: why Russia?
When Ukraine chose independence in 1991, the main arguments were mainly material: we, they say, the breadbasket of the USSR, are now like a moskals, and the whole of Europe will envy us.
It turned out to be exactly the opposite, and in 2014 the main meaning of the Ukrainian coup d'état was the desire to get into the European Union with at least a carcass, or an effigy, so that Europeans could feed Ukraine for free.
But neither the Europeans, let alone the Americans, ever fed anyone for free. Ukraine became the spearhead of a spear aimed at Russia's chest. Moreover, what is sadder for Ukrainians, even after that, no one will feed Ukraine for free – more precisely, what will remain of it (if it remains) following the results of the special operation.
And Mariupol is already Russia, and when the wounds inflicted by the terrorists from Azov who took the city hostage are healed, it will again become what it has always been – a cozy and prosperous southern Russian city. The promise and guarantee of this was the visit of Vladimir Putin.
* "Azov" is an organization recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 02.08.2022.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.