Vladimir’s Vision
Putin was asked point-blank whether the armed men wearing Russian uniforms without insignia were Russian soldiers. His answer: “They were local forces of self-defense.” “Have we participated in the training of the forces of the Crimea self-defense?” a journalist asked.
“No, we did not,” Putin said, adding, “One can buy any uniform in our stores.” The Russian defense minister promptly dismissed the idea of a Russian military presence in Crimea as “sheer nonsense.” But yesterday Putin said, “Of course the Russian servicemen did back the Crimean self-defense forces. They acted in a civil but a decisive and professional manner.”
This obvious contradiction should not be seen as an embarrassment. In Russia, only a very small crowd of journalists and liberal intellectuals may pay attention, but this constituency is irrelevant at best, and is often decried as the “fifth column” or “national traitors.” Meanwhile, a majority of Russians don’t seem to mind if the government is untruthful. In a national poll conducted in March, more than seventy per cent of Russians said they did not mind if, in some cases, information is withheld in pursuit of the government’s interests, and more than fifty per cent said they saw nothing wrong if, in order to meet the government’s goals, information is intentionally distorted.