Putin projects ‘wartime image’ of Russia in fifth inaugural address

Putin projects ‘wartime image’ of Russia in fifth inaugural address

turning now to Russia where President Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for a fifth term further tightening his control over the country the inauguration comes after an effectively uncontested election which took place just a month after opposition leader Alexa navali died in a Russian prison that all comes more than two years after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine which he framed as part of a greater existential conflict with the West in his inauguration speech at the same time Russia has also announced plans to hold nuclear weapons drills an apparent warning to Western allies over their involvement in the war in Ukraine and joining me now for more is NBC’s Matt Bodner Matt we heard Putin address the West directly in that speech how important is this inauguration for the Kremlin especially given the ongoing war in Ukraine thanks Gabe well it’s interesting Putin is often talking directly to the west and so much uh I think of uh of what he does is meant for us to see and today’s inauguration was another great example of that uh of course much of what he said was directed at the Russian public as well you know he talked a lot about the war into United Russia doing what it needs to do to secure its Sovereign and prosperous future but the message for the West here I think is really straightforward all of your efforts to undermine me have failed and I’m stronger than ever we’ve seen a lot of that from him recently uh so I think it’s it’s really about continuing this effort by the Kremlin to project this strong and confident face it helps them a lot right now that the inauguration is falling just two days before Victory Day uh that would be May 9th and that’s essentially the most sacred holiday in in Putin’s Russia commemorating their victory in the Second World War uh interesting this year Once Upon a Time the main attraction of that Victory Day Parade uh was Russia’s own military hardware but this year they’ve actually got a special attraction including NATO tanks uh US abrs tanks and we can see you know crowds of fawning all over this in in in Moscow so I think what’s really striking to me uh is the images coming out of Moscow this morning today really kind of underscore this trend of militarization in Russian society and I think really to put it simply just how much Putin has molded his country into his wartime image in just two years and meanwhile mat US soldier has been detained in Russia how does the Kremlin view this uh the political opportunity of detentions like this and do they force conversations between Moscow and Washington or just increase tensions so it’s it’s an interesting question I think they they always know that they’re going to to spark some kind of discussion and I think that they they really do view Americans as targets of opportunity at this point so with any American they detain whether or not the charges are legitimate and I do think it’s important to point out there are Americans in Russia who do commit legitimate crimes but regardless of of that fact it’s a chance to get Washington on the phone I think there’s a lot of behind the scenes here that we get very little taste of even even with very Pro prominent cases such as Evan gershkovich The Wall Street Journal reporter uh charged with Espionage so these arrests you know they they do raise tensions they also Force conversations I think it’s just that often these conversations seem to yield few results at least that we can see in public Gabe Matt Bodner who has covered Russia extensively for us live in London for us this afternoon Matt thank you so much thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media

Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a fifth term. NBC News reporter Matt Bodner discusses what it could mean for the war in Ukraine and U.S.-Russia relations.

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