Bargaining and blackmail. Why Putin is so hurry with pseudo -referendums

But now even the performance has not succeeded, - writes Vitaliy Portnikov for Radio. Svoboda. And this is an important proof that the so -called referendums were preparing in a hurry. Thus, the possibility of their conduct was spoken literally from the first day after Vladimir Putin recognized the "independence" of the occupied parts of Donbass, where the DNR and LNR groups operate. And even practical steps were taken to prepare these pseudo -referendums.

The first deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Russia Serhiy Kiriyenko came to the occupied regions. But the date of voting has not been determined. Moreover, after the release of the Ukrainian troops, the territory of Kharkiv region was argued that this date was postponed indefinitely. And suddenly - such a hurry! Blitzkrig was a fiasco as for me, such changes to the plans of the Russian leadership are related to the results of the Samhai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand.

The Russian president expected that meetings in the ancient Uzbek city will help him demonstrate that there is no international isolation. And in practice, it turned out that his partners from the SOS were not interested in continuing the war. Putin's shame is not used to it, and it was easy to predict. After all, the economic crisis, which is largely triggered by Putin's invasion of Ukraine, also affects the interests of countries such as China or India.

Yes, perhaps if Blitzkrig Putin would have succeeded in Beijing or Delhi would not make claims to the Russian President. But Blitzkrig was a fiasco. And a long-term conflict is clearly not what is needed by the head of the China Synpic, India Prime Minister Narendri Modi or Turkish President Recep Taiip Erdogan. From meetings in Uzbekistan, the Russian President could have a simple conviction that he would not be able to fight for a long time.

It was then that Putin began to feverishly fix his "military achievements" with political steps. Now the so -called referendum is not a beautiful picture that has to illustrate the dreams of "Russian peace". This is a blackmail item - when it comes to the possibility of nuclear weapons. And the possibility of bargaining - if there is an urgent need to end the war and put up with the fact that the Kremlin will not be able to prevent the existence of a sovereign democratic Ukraine.