Seven months into his euphemistically named “special military operation” in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has failed in another of his war aims. This time, however, it is not because of the doughty resistance put up by the people of Ukraine, but by his own presidential decree.
The bogus referendums in eastern provinces of Ukraine illegally occupied by Russian forces have “approved” their incorporation into the Russian Federation. This is, however, in direct contravention not only of international law but of President Putin’s own war aims. In February, during a long rambling television address, the president stated: “Our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force.”
It is hardly a shock, but it underlines just how fraudulent President Putin’s rationale for war really was. His contention, reinforced to the Russian people via propaganda and a mostly compliant local media, was that Ukraine was some kind of bandit Nazi state; effectively occupied by the West and crying out for liberation by its Russian kith and kin.
