Before the start of the president's address on Thursday, February 29, Russian television cautioned: "Vladimir Putin's annual addresses not only set a horizon for the future, they often have a prophetic quality." At the end of the session, and with two weeks to go before an election that will see him in power until 2030, it was hard to know exactly what horizon the Russian head of state was planning for his country.
Putin ventured into hitherto unexplored territory before the political, military, economic and religious elite gathered in Moscow, going so far as to mention the restoration of footpaths in national parks, the modernization of post offices in villages and the renovation of riverside tracks in Russian cities.
From these lengthy and specific details, accompanied by countless quantified promises, one message emerged, addressed to the voters called upon to cast their ballots from March 15 to 17: War would not be allowed to encroach on their daily lives, nor hinder Russia's development. If they continued to trust the man who has already been in power for a quarter-century, their country would be "a world leader" in just about every field in six years' time. The subject of war was actually dispatched in an unusually rapid fashion and the attacks were mainly aimed at the West, once again blamed for the outbreak of hostilities, through "Russophobia" and "the desire to enslave Russia."
Putin alternated between reassuring messages – his readiness for "dialogue with the US," the absence of hostile plans toward Europe, or projects to deploy nuclear weapons in space – and more threatening ones, notably in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's statements on the possible deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine.
"[Western nations] must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory," warned Putin. "All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that? We remember the fate of those who once sent their contingents to the territory of our country. Now the consequences for possible interventionists will be much more tragic."
The Russian president also praised the modernization of the nuclear force and the success of his army in Ukraine, as well as the support of "the absolute majority of the Russian people." But he offered no prospects for these people, whether in terms of the announced victory, a possible negotiated outcome or the return of mobilized civilians to their homes in September 2022.
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