Irish Examiner View: Putin's rallying call offers little hope

Putin’s latest speech on the war in Ukraine can be dismissed as mere sabre-rattling, an attempt to rally his fellow countrymen to the national flag

Putin’s advice to his listeners in Russia, to prepare for a long war, was another gloomy takeaway from the speech. Picture: Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin Pool/AP.

In his latest speech on the war in Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin flatly contradicted the accepted narrative about the conflict, stating that, in fact, it was started by the West a year ago.

The fact that it was the Russians themselves who invaded Ukraine means Putin’s speech and its outlandish claims can be dismissed as mere sabre-rattling, an attempt to rally his fellow countrymen to the national flag.