MOSCOW – On the Bolshoj Moskvoretskij Bridge, suspended over the Moskva River and on the esplanade leading to San Basilio and the Red Square, a procession of giant screens with the colors of the Russian tricolor and the words “Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson: Russia! “. Close to the walls of the Kremlin, the fitters wear the harnesses for the last props on the stage where, according to Rbk, Russian President Vladimir Putin himself should appear today to celebrate the annexation of the four Ukrainian territories. For the mega concert to be held tonight only the metal detectors remain to be aligned. The choreography is reminiscent of eight years ago to celebrate the conquest of the Crimean peninsula. Even the slogan is almost the same: in 2014 it was My vmeste, “We are together”, now Vmeste Navsegda, “Together forever”. But that “forever” is much more than a promise. It’s a menace. The Constitution reformed in 2020 prohibits the cession of the territories formally annexed to Russia. The amendments approved then seemed to prevent a future Russian leader from ceding Crimea, but after today’s ceremony they will also prohibit the cession of the Ukrainian “liberated” territories – they say so here – starting February 24.
On Rossija1 and Rossija24 TVs, the countdown has already started, marking the hours and minutes until 3pm today – 2pm in Italy – when, in the Sala di San Giorgio of the Grand Palace of the Kremlin, together with the four pro-Russian leaders, Putin it will sign the treaties for the accession to Russia of the regions where the referendums were closed on Tuesday, considered a “farce” by Kiev and the international community. “Nothing more or less than land grabbing,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday. “Putin will give a voluminous speech,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced. According to the 2014 script, the treaties will then be ratified by the two chambers of the Russian parliament – Monday by the Duma and Tuesday by the Federation Council – and finally signed by the Kremlin leader. But the celebrations in Red Square will already take place today. The turnout was guaranteed by blackmail. “Participating is equivalent to passing a test in a difficult subject,” promised a teacher to the students of the Russian State Social University, inviting them to go and “support the country.” While government companies have been called upon to ensure the presence of about half of the employees. “Show your civic position and participate by supporting the fraternal people and military personnel,” she reads in a circular from Mosinzhproekt.
“To party? This is not the time for celebration. We are all terrified, ”confesses Ljudmilla, a 49-year-old bank employee. “I’ve been away from politics for years, but now we’re all being dragged into it. My son is 27 years old. We are looking for a way why he does not have to fight in Ukraine ». Marina, 60, a former employee of a tax agency, now retired, also has a 28-year-old son who could be involved in the “partial mobilization”. “The concert will be a farce as were the referendums. The population remained silent as long as the contract soldiers were fighting at the front. But when the first coffins of the “mobilized” arrive, everything will change. The problem is, we don’t know what to do. Manifesting doesn’t change things. It would take an opposition leader, but there isn’t. Our reality is this ». Only 64-year-old Aleksandr celebrates. Former soldier, a native of annexed Crimea, a daughter in Kherson, assures that “there” everyone is in favor of annexation. «Putin was far too loyal. He would have had to blow up the railway junctions to cut off the supply of weapons. ‘
Today’s signing already marks an escalation with no return that will indefinitely prolong the so-called “special military operation” against Kiev and will destroy any possibility of negotiation, despite appeals, such as yesterday’s offer of mediation by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. So much so that the Italian embassy invites compatriots in Russia to consider whether to leave the country. Putin has already said he is ready to defend the new territories using all available means, including nuclear weapons. And yesterday, meeting the officials of the security services of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which brings together the former Soviet Republics, he returned to attack the West. «Our geopolitical opponents are ready to attack any country, make it the epicenter of the crisis, provoke a” color revolution “and unleash a bloody massacre. Just look at what happens between Russia and Ukraine. All this, of course, is the result of the collapse of the USSR “, he said, reiterating that a” more just world order “is being formed, while” unipolar hegemony is collapsing “. On TV, the countdown to day “X” of the new order is already running out.