Putin: Even Sinking the HMS Defender Would Not Have Triggered a War

July 1, 2021 (EIRNS)—During his nationally broadcast “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” annual question & answer session with the Russian public yesterday, President Putin argued, in response to one question, that even if the Russian military had sunk the HMS Defender, on June 23, it would not have triggered a World War III. “You said that this put the world on the brink of a global war. No, of course, not. Even if we had sunk that ship, it is nevertheless difficult to imagine that this would have put the world on the brink of a third world war because those who did this know they could not win a war like that. This is very important,” he said. (Putin would do well to recall the advice of Lyndon LaRouche, who frequently said that one should never discount the possibility that one’s interlocutors on the other side of the table might actually be insane.) The President further stressed:

“I do not think that we would have been happy at the turn of events you mentioned, but we at least know what we are fighting for: We are fighting for ourselves and our future on our own territory. It was not we who covered thousands of kilometers by air and sea towards them; it was they who approached our borders and entered our territorial sea....”

Putin continued:

“The second thing is the political component. Recently, a few days ago, a meeting was held in Geneva. The question was: why was there such a provocation? What was all of that for? For the sake of emphasizing that these people do not respect the Crimeans’ choice to join the Russian Federation? ... Fine, keep not accepting it. But why a provocation of this kind?”

the President asked.

President Putin explained his answer:

“I am not concerned about this or that somebody does not respect the choice of the people in Crimea to join Russia. I have a different concern. Look now, they raised a clamor over the fact that we were conducting exercises on our own territory near the Ukrainian border. I instructed the Defense Ministry to quietly end the drills and withdraw the troops, if this is such a great concern for them. We did so. But instead of responding positively and saying ‘OK, we understand your reaction to our indignation,’ what did they do? They approached our borders.”

Putin stressed that there is more involved, related to the militarization of Ukraine.

“I am worried about another, more fundamental thing, namely, the beginning of military development in Ukrainian territory. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, no foreign bases can be established in the country. Training centers and other facilities and formats are possible. But the military development of a territory that directly borders on our country creates a considerable security problem for us. This has to do with the vital interests of the Russian Federation and the Russian people. Of course, this is alarming, and we must think about it,”

President Putin cautioned.

The President’s nearly three-hour dialogue, responding to 70 questions, is posted to the Kremlin website.Renewables Policy Doubling Electricity Prices in Germany