Putin’s Address: What does the Russian President's message say to the world?

02.12.2016

The Presidential Address to The Federal Assembly should be considered not only as a source of direct information on the goals and objectives for the near future, but also as hints and an obscure system of messages to people both within the country and abroad.

The international factor

Almost the whole of Putin’s address was devoted to domestic issues: the economy, the social sphere, education. The international agenda was pushed to the end, and in total not more than 10 minutes was paid to this topic. This means that after the collapse of the unipolar world, Russia can finally today concentrate on solving domestic problems, as no power could put outside pressure anymore on the country.

The West and Non-Exclusivity

It is very important to pay attention to Putin’s tone, which he used in talking about relations with different countries. The President emphasized that the key partners for Russia today were Asian countries: China, India, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific whole region. Full-fledged geopolitical diversification could be said to be made on this stage. Russia is actually ready for a multipolar world, and prejudices about the superiority of the West are in the past.

Eurasian integration

Despite the fact that most of the European countries have recently been holding onto an unreasonably aggressive policy towards Russia, Vladimir Putin invited them to cooperate within the framework of the Eurasian integration processes. The President demonstrated his desire to negotiate and find common ground, especially in a situation where the EU was weakened and was on the verge of total collapse.

A signal to Trump

Perhaps the most important element of the international address was a reference to the new US administration. Vladimir Putin expressed his readiness to work on equal terms with the team of Donald Trump, noting that today’s global security depended on Moscow and Washington. The Russian president proposed to jointly combat terrorism, which coincides with the views of Trump, who, like Putin, is a realist. Some experts also pointed to Putin's tie color: red was uncharacteristic for him. It is possible that this could also be considered as a friendly signal to the Republican Trump.