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Putin believes he has a historic mission to restore Russia's honor and show the West that Russia is a sovereign country. That's what Wierd Duk, reporter at the Telegraaf and author of the book 'Putin: Street fighter undermines world order' says in conversation with Paul Buitink of Holland Gold. Putin's mission has taken on an ideological character, with his political and strategic course symbolizing a conservative ideology. A philosophy that is not only alive in Russia, but also in other parts of the non-Western world.
In the interview, Wierd Duk outlines the context in which Putin came to power and how he rebuilt Russia after the implosion of the early 1990s. The country was completely bankrupt and the currency had become worthless. Savers had lost all their money and the elderly in particular lived in abject poverty. The country had to switch from a planned economy to a free market economy in a short period of time, which made a small group of people enormously rich at the expense of the rest of the Russian population. The standard of living and life expectancy decreased, while the proceeds of valuable raw materials went to oligarchs for next to nothing.
Putin broke through this dark phase in Russian history by putting things in order and forcing the revenues from raw materials to benefit the Russian people. He ensured that the state retained control over vital industries and tackled the mafia, allowing its own population to benefit from the economic upturn. As a result, Russia is once again playing a significant role on the world stage today, Duk describes.
From this perspective, he also considers Putin's motivations for invading Ukraine. Duk refers to the speech Putin gave at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. Since then, the Russian president has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the unipolar world order, in which the United States can take important decisions and the rest of the world has to comply.
With regard to the current economic situation, Duk has a gloomy outlook for Europe. We are getting the short end of the stick because our economic sanctions against Russia are not working. As a result, Europe pays sky-high energy prices, while the United States is much less affected. Russia are actually benefiting, as their revenues have increased since the invasion of Ukraine.
