Vladimir Putin on Wednesday 21 April promised his foreign rivals a "harsh" response if they tried to attack Russia, against a backdrop of growing tensions with the West and before opposition protests threatened with repression .
Washington and the European Union have been denouncing for weeks the deployment of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers on the borders of Ukraine.
They tirelessly criticize the imprisonment of the main opponent of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, on hunger strike for three weeks and who is dying according to his relatives.
A promise of an "asymmetric, rapid and hard" response
The Russian president, in his big annual speech, warned his foreign adversaries.
"The organizers of provocations threatening our security will regret it as they never had to regret anything," he insisted.
"I hope that no one will have the idea of crossing a red line," he said again, promising an "asymmetric, fast and hard" response.
Its spokesperson Dmitry Peskov specified to the Russian agencies that these lines concerned the interests of Moscow, the interference in the internal political life and any remarks "insulting" for the country.
Russia, due to the conflict in Ukraine, the repression of the opposition, accusations of cyberattacks, espionage and electoral interference, is subject to multiple Western sanctions.
But the only precise international file addressed by Vladimir Poutine is that of a supposed attempt "of coup d'etat and assassination of the president of Belarus", revealed last weekend by the security services of the two countries.
Vladimir Putin denounced the Western silence, on the eve of a meeting in Moscow with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, hated in the West because of the brutal repression of a protest movement since August 2020.
The health crisis at the heart of the discourse
Domestically, the economic and health crisis due to Covid-19 featured prominently in the speech, especially since legislative elections are scheduled for September.
He promised additional aid to families or to curb food price inflation.
“The most important thing now is to ensure the growth of citizens' incomes,” he said.
The purchasing power of the Russians has been at half mast for years, under the effect of sanctions and now also of the pandemic.
As the elections approach, Vladimir Putin remains popular, but his party, reputed to be corrupt, is hardly so.
According to the Barometer of the Levada Institute in March, the voting intentions for United Russia are at 21%.
An unpopularity on which Alexeï Navalny counted on leaning during the campaign.
On the health front, Vladimir Putin praised the Russian scientific successes, with the development of national anti-Covid vaccines, which should "allow herd immunity to develop in the fall".
Mute on Navalny
Unsurprisingly, the Russian president did not say a word about the fate of Alexei Navalny, who stopped eating on March 31 to protest against his conditions of detention.
The West is demanding his release and the truth about his poisoning in August 2020 and in which the special services would be involved.
Hoping to weigh the day of the presidential speech, his supporters called for protests in around 100 cities.
"To obtain fair elections and the release of political prisoners it takes hundreds of thousands, millions of people in the streets and not once, but as many times as necessary," said Leonid Volkov, a relative of Alexeï Navalny who went into exile.
The mobilization seemed less important in the provinces than during previous demonstrations in January and February, when tens of thousands of Russians demonstrated, leading to at least 11,000 arrests.
In Novosibirsk in Siberia, there were hundreds, according to a video from the Anti-Corruption Fund of Alexey Navalny, chanting "Putin killer".
In Tomsk, where the opponent had been poisoned, a small crowd shouted "Free him".
Свободу Алексею Навальному!
pic.twitter.com/ebu5EYpD8h
- Штаб Навального в Новосибирске (@teamnavalny_nsk) April 21, 2021
In Moscow, protesters want to meet at 4 p.m. GMT near the Kremlin, but police should be there in numbers to stop them.
The specialized NGO OVD-Info recorded 113 arrests in the country at 13h-GMT on Wednesday.
Searches also targeted members of the movement.
Alexeï Navalny's wife, Yulia, for her part, published a photo of the couple with their two children proclaiming "Come back quickly!"
Finally, from next week, the justice must examine a request from the Public Prosecutor's Office aimed at classifying as "extremist" organizations linked to the opponent, which would expose its activists to prison terms.
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A post shared by Юлия Навальная (@yulia_navalnaya)
With AFP and Reuters
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