Putins leere Kriegsdrohungen offenbaren seine wachsende Verzweiflung

Vladimir Putin only has one song and he sings it over and over again. There are no verses, only a badly constructed chorus. It is a song of threats, belligerence and crybaby victimhood. He sang it in 2022. He sings it again today. And it has no more truth now than it had back then.

On 24 February 2022, in a televised speech launching the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he first threatened a [nuclear attack](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/nuclear-weapon-no-longer-enough-keep-us-safe-4062029?srsltid=AfmBOopCfno_u3C7BT5jxE2pCPcewJKHmupHI1DIsXQWJR8ShF4v6ovv&ico=in-line_link) in the event of Western interference. “Russia will respond immediately,” he said, “and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.” He has continued to make this threat on a regular, near-monthly basis over the ensuing years, most recently in July.

Yesterday, he was up to the same old trick. First, he threatened to “cut Ukraine off from the sea” in response to drone attacks on Russian tankers. Then he threatened a Russian invasion of Europe. “We’re not going to war with Europe,” he said. “I’ve said that a hundred times. But if Europe suddenly wants to fight us and starts, we’re ready right now.”

It’s all nonsense. In reality, Putin cannot sever Ukraine’s connection to the sea, because it still controls major ports including Odesa. In reality, Putin already went to war with Europe when he invaded a European country. In reality, he is not “ready right now”. He uses baseless threats because they are one of his few remaining weapons.

Putin is at his strongest when people believe what he says. He is a far more successful manipulator of Western psychology than he is a conqueror of Ukrainian defensive positions. It was his triumph of persuasion, for instance, which almost won the war for Russia earlier this year, when [Donald Trump](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/trumps-betrayal-ukraine-complete-3654980?srsltid=AfmBOoquLKpQJbFcBM9cAf_HBFGUDh01xW4U4zBmWcF_iRy3pAynJ8nX&ico=in-line_link) ended up shouting at Volodymyr Zelensky that “if [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you”.

It is also what undermines Europe’s willingness to stand up to Putin. Russia has presented any move designed to support Ukraine as an obstacle to peace. This is, of course, nonsense. If Putin wanted to end the war tomorrow he could do so. But there are people who are either gullible enough to believe it or mendacious enough that they pretend to be.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has held up the EU’s use of frozen Russian state assets for weeks, depriving Ukraine of funding security and Europe of geopolitical leverage. “Hastily moving forward on the proposed reparations loan scheme would have, as collateral damage, that we as EU are effectively preventing reaching an eventual peace deal,” he said in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – cowardly and disingenuous in roughly equal measure.