Vladimir Putin meets with Russia’s war correspondents
This evening’s News at 20.00 o’clock on Russian state television opened with extensive excerpts from the open discussion in Q&A format that Vladimir Putin had with 20 of the country’s war correspondents just a couple of hours earlier.
I was fortunate enough to have accidentally tuned into that session while it was still being broadcast live. The hour or so that I sat with the broadcast left no doubt in my mind that Vladimir Putin remains one of a kind among the world’s leaders. That is not meant as a compliment but as a statement of fact: the man is a phenomenon. He spoke extemporaneously, without notes.
The meeting took place in a Kremlin conference room. The participants included some of the best known journalists, including Alexander Sladkov and Yevgeny Poddubny, whom we see daily on state television reporting from the front lines in Donbas. But there were also journalists from the commercial channel NTV, from the military channel Zvezda and from print media including Komsomolskaya Pravda. There were even nontraditional journalists like the fellow who identified himself simply as a “blogger.”
What they all had in common was the possibility to pose tough questions about the conduct of the war, about shortcomings in equipment supply and injustices in compensation that irk the rank-in-file soldiers, about the relations between private military companies on the war front (the Wagner Group) and the regular military, and about a great deal more. All questions received serious answers or the promise that Putin would take the issues up with the Ministry to seek solutions. If it was not possible to respond for reasons of state security, such as the question about when Russia will in its turn go on the offensive, then the president did not mince words; he explained that the issue could be discussed between four eyes, not on live television.
I offer below my informal record of the most important to-and-fro that I heard. This is not a stenographic document but the gist of what I caught on the fly.
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Q – At the start of the war, we saw that the Russian military command consisted of armchair generals, of people who got to their positions as ass-lickers. A lot of mistakes were made. Now from the progress of the war we see examples of great heroism and courage. What can you do to ensure that these people will rise to the top?
A – Yes, in peacetime our Army command was filled with armchair generals. But that is something you see in every army in the world in peacetime. Yes, I agree with you that the heroes who have been awarded medals for their courage and effectiveness on the field of battle should be given a “lift” by promotions and by their entering academies to provide them with knowledge of military science so as to take positions at the highest levels. I see room for such patriotic and brave people also in the security services.
One problem is that the heroic servicemen are self-sacrificing and are very often among those who die on the battlefield. But for those who make it through, we must identify them and fast-track them.
Q – We have seen how not just Ukraine but the NATO forces have crossed each of our red lines, one after another. They keep on pushing us back. When will we respond?
A- We responded by opening the Special Military Operation. That was our response to 8 years of war that the West initiated against the populations of Donbas. As for red lines crossed in the past year, well we have responded. I cannot detail all of this in public, but let us note our destruction of power generation facilities or our destruction of the headquarters building of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence in downtown Kiev.
Q- We see that Ukraine is being stuffed with the latest Western weapon systems. What are we going to do about it? Why isn’t our army fully equipped with modern weapons?
A – In the course of the Special Military Operation it has become clear that many forms of armaments are not available in sufficient numbers. These include high precision munitions, drones, field communications. We have to increase our production to meet demand. Overall in the past year production of all military hardware has increased 2.7 times. And in the weapons most in demand we have increased production 10 times. Remember that our decision to modernize our military industrial complex was taken eight years ago and a lot has been achieved. Also note that besides the MIC in the past year thousands of private manufacturers operating in the civilian sector have come forward as suppliers of subsystems and finished goods for the military.
Q – The United States has just announced that it will be supplying depleted uranium artillery shells to the Ukrainian armed forces. What will be our response?
A- The United States is offering to provide depleted uranium shells because it has run out of normal artillery shells and has a production capacity at present of just 30,000 per month, whereas the Ukrainian army uses up 5,000 or more shells a day. However, the US has a stock of depleted uranium shells and now proposes to empty its stores. Our response? We also have a very large stock of depleted uranium shells and may be obliged to use them now on the field of battle.
Q- Will there be another mobilization?
A - Everything depends on what we want to achieve in the war. At present there is no discussion of mobilization. After all there has been an upsurge of patriotic feelings and large numbers of men have come forward to enlist. There are now 150,000 newly signed contract soldiers available for the front plus another 6,000 volunteers outside contract. Our task now is to ensure that all soldiers fighting in the SMO war zone have concluded contracts that ensure they receive the same compensation and social benefits.
Q- Among contract soldiers we see that some receive much more cash than others. What can be done to level this out?
A – The federal allowances to contract soldiers are exactly the same wherever they are signed up. The differences in money paid out to them are the result of voluntary payments made by each region of the Russian Federation to their soldiers. We are a nation under law, unlike Ukraine, and there is nothing the federal government can do to coerce the regions to level up. However, we will have a word with the governors so that they are made aware of what others are doing and can voluntarily raise their allotments to a generalized level. This will be a case of sharing best practices.
Q – Why have we prolonged the grain deal with Ukraine? Soldiers in the trenches do not understand this cooperation. It appears we get no benefit from it.
A – Indeed, the West has not lived up to the commitments set down in the grain deal. Our grain exports still are handicapped by the exclusion of our specialized agricultural trade bank from SWIFT and by sanctions on boats and insurance to carry our grain to export markets. However, we have continued the grain deal for the benefit of the friendly countries in Africa and Latin America that are dependent on these grain supplies from Ukraine. Next month we will meet with African leaders here in Moscow and the grain deal will be one subject for our discussion.
Q – There have been frictions between private military companies engaged in the fighting in the Donbas (the Wagner Group) and the regular Russian army forces. What can be done?
A – What we are now doing is ensuring that everyone fighting in defense of Russia in the area of the Special Military Operation will have exactly the same rights and obligations set down in contract with the regular army.
Q – Many of those in the private military companies have been convicts released from prison upon agreeing to fight in the war zone. Upon the end of their term, they are released and pardoned. But then we hear that some of these people go back to their old ways and start committing crimes.
A – All of those convicts who serve their time on the battlefield are indeed pardoned. But anyone who then goes on to commit a crime will be held accountable and will be subject to punishment just as anyone else. However, let us note that whereas in general the rate of recidivism of criminals released from prison is 40%, the recidivism of those who served at the front is ten times less.
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My key conclusion from watching Putin’s meeting with the war correspondents is that those in the West who say that the Russian President lives in a bubble, that he does not know what is really going on in this war – those “experts” and pundits are either ignorant fools or vile propagandists. Putin is making a great effort to build his own understanding of the real state of affairs by speaking directly to people at the working level. He does this precisely to avoid being a hostage of his top generals and ministers. Today’s meeting with the front line journalists came a day after his visit to a military hospital in downtown Moscow where he spent time talking with soldiers convalescing from their war injuries. These had all been awarded medals for heroism and Putin wanted to hear their stories, to understand their thinking about the war. His time spent with them was a lot more than a photo opportunity.
The 20.00 newscast added to the excerpts from the Q&A session a brief interview which journalist Pavel Zarubin took with a half dozen of the participants in the meeting with Putin. All were in agreement: they were impressed that the President had a firm grasp both of details in the war zone and of challenges before Russian society to support the war effort.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023