ISW: Things Go Off Script For Putin
- 25.10.2024, 9:18
The head of the Kremlin failed at the BRICS summit.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has failed to deny the presence of the North Korean military in Russia amid official reports from Ukraine and the West that the first DPRK soldiers are already in Kursk region. In parallel, he failed in his attempt to present the BRICS summit in Kazan as evidence of broad international support for his country.
This was stated in a summary by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Analysts noted that the Russian military spent several weeks coordinating with North Korean units. Specifically, the DPRK has transferred some 12,000 of its troops, including 500 officers and three generals, to Russia.
When, however, at a press conference after the BRICS summit in Kazan, Putin was asked about recently published South Korean satellite images showing DPRK troops in Russian Federation, he ironically replied that ‘photos are a serious thing’ and they ‘reflect something.’
‘Putin repeated the article on mutual defence in the Russian-North Korean strategic partnership agreement with North Korea, announced in June 2024 and officially ratified by the Russian State Duma,’ the ISW summary said.
Against this backdrop, the Kremlin failed to present the BRICS summit as evidence of broad international support for Russia, especially to its domestic audience.
Analysts report that Russian opposition publication of Meduza wrote on October 24 that it had reviewed the government's guidelines for state-run Russian media and propagandists with instructions on how to cover the event in Kazan. The document highlights three themes, summarised as follows: Putin is the ‘unofficial leader of the world majority’, Western elites are ‘panicking’, and ‘anxiety prevails’ in the West as a whole.
In addition, the Kremlin has ordered the media to report that the BRICS summit has ‘attracted the attention of the whole world’ and proves that ‘attempts to isolate’ Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine have ‘failed.’
Also, propagandists should tell how Putin is establishing ‘strategic ties that are not limited to one direction,’ unlike the West's alleged ‘speedy alliances.’
Russian troops will fulfil Putin's main plan: the target of the enemy offensive has been named.
At the same time, a Russian insider source claimed that people connected to Putin's administration are now spreading the theme that the BRICS countries are largely unsupportive of Russia's stance on its war against Ukraine, forcing the Kremlin to sideline the issue in order to achieve some ‘serious international alliance’.
‘The adoption of the Kazan Declaration on the second day of the BRICS summit also demonstrated that Russia has not secured the international support or created the alternative security structure that the Kremlin desires,’ ISW summarised.