Putin calls on Westerners not to 'cross the red line' with Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address to the nation in Moscow on April 21, 2021. AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
This Wednesday is under high tension in Russia with a call to demonstrate in the evening of supporters of Alexey Navalny.
But before these demonstrations, Vladimir Poutine delivered his State of the Nation speech to Russian parliamentarians.
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With our correspondent in Moscow,
Daniel Vallot
True to his habit, Vladimir Putin has completely ignored
Alexeï Navalny
, whose fate nevertheless arouses the concern not only of his supporters but also of many governments abroad, in particular the Western countries and did not say a word to his subject.
On the other hand, the Russian president spoke at length about the Covid-19 pandemic, believing that Russia had known how to meet the health challenge, but he asked his fellow citizens to be vaccinated.
It must be said that the vaccination rate in Russia remains very low, only 4% of the population has been immunized even though the country has a Sputnik V vaccine which is distributed free of charge.
Vladimir Putin also detailed the support measures that will be granted, in particular to families to overcome the economic difficulties caused by the Covid-19, with of course in sight, the legislative elections in September which promise to be delicate for the party in power. - at the lowest in the polls.
International tensions
Vladimir Putin was also expected on international tensions and the situation in Ukraine. As he likes to spare his effects of surprise, the Russian president preferred to talk about Belarus and the assassination attempt allegedly suffered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Vladimir Poutine was astonished at the silence of Western countries on what
he considers an attempted coup
and he warned these same Western countries very firmly: "
All those who will organize provocations against our countries. interests will regret it - I hope no one will have the idea of crossing the red line in their relations with Russia
”.
Vladimir Poutine thus uses an expression often used precisely by Western countries, without specifying what this famous red line consisted of.
In any case, even if it remains unclear, it is a warning addressed to Western countries, undoubtedly implicit in
the tensions which are mounting in Donbass
between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian forces.
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Russia
Vladimir Poutine