Putin’s bid to ‘denazify’ Ukraine includes cleansing Russia of ‘traitors’

Vladimir Putin, the
Russian president at war with Ukraine, warned that he would cleanse his country
of the “scum and traitors” working covertly in support of the United States and
its allies. In a televised address, Putin said the West seeks to destroy Russia
and lashed out at domestic critics.

“Any people, and
particularly the Russian people, will always be able to tell apart the patriots
from the scum and traitors and spit them out like a midge that accidentally
fell into their mouths,” said Putin.

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“I am convinced
that this natural and necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen
our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to meet any challenge.”

The Russian president’s
outburst comes two days after a producer at the state-run Channel One
interrupted its broadcast with a protest against the war. Marina Ovsyannnikova
briefly held up a sign that read: “They’re lying to you.”

Following her brief
act of protest, the senior television producer told The Guardian that her anger
with Russia’s political direction has been growing over the years.

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“First, they
cancelled the governor elections, then they started to ban independent media,
then they poisoned [opposition leader] Navalny. My anger kept growing…The war
was the last drop and I decided to act,” she said.

In another interview
with Reuters, Ovsyannnikova said, “I believe in what I did, I now understand
the scale of the problems that I’ll have to deal with and, of course, I’m
extremely concerned for my safety.”

In his address,
Putin accused the United States and its allies of ignoring Moscow’s demand to
prevent Ukraine from joining NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He
further said that he doesn’t seek to occupy Ukraine but to demilitarise it and
bring criminals to justice.

On February 24, when the
Russian President announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, he said
the goal was to, “protect the people who have been subjected to abuse and
genocide by the regime in Kyiv for eight years. And for this we will pursue the
demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.”