Just one incident can lead to serious consequences

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Putin, Putin and the EU, Putin's character

With the armed forces of so many nations in action over Syrian air-space at the moment, not to mention the regular Turkish strikes against the Kurds (which have been barely reported in the West), we have long been aware how easily events could spiral into a major escalation in the Middle East. We certainly hadn’t thought about Salisbury!

But whilst Russia has long since set about a vigorous rearmament programme, Britain and the West have been lulled into comparative complacency despite

Putin in 2024 and the direction that Russia takes

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Moscow, Putin, Russia

Bearing in mind that Vladimir Putin has said that he intends to step down in 2024, what will he do in the course of his next term in office – and what will happen beyond that?

Focus on Vladimir Putin

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Putin, Russia, Vladimir Putin

In this article I am going further than I have done before in drawing back the veil, and will be focusing on two main aspects: the character of the man who is President, and the history of how he came to occupy this prominent position.

How Vladimir Putin came to power

Many have wondered how Vladimir Putin ‘came from nowhere’ to reach the heights of the Russian system. This fascinating award-winning 45 minute documentary explores how he came to exercise the unparalleled influence he now exercises in Russia.

Vladimir Putin’s religion

Unlike former Soviet leaders, Vladimir Putin makes no secret of his (relatively new found) faith. I watched an Easter service a few years go in which he specially apologised to the Orthodox Church for the years of state persecution. Purely a ploy and a ‘nationalist convenience’ or something much more deeply held? This link to a 14 minute video provides an interesting account of Vladimir Putin discussing his Christian Faith in his own words. As such it is obviously important in contributing to our overall understanding of the man and his outlook.

A Strong Reaction to the Doping Scandal

The scale of the corruption in Russia is widely recognised as being huge. It is interesting that it was over a matter of sport (athletics) that the issue has recently returned to the fore (with similar concerns over Sepp Blatter’s remark that the decision that the World Cup was to be hosted in Russia in 2018 had already been decided before any votes were cast.)

In the light of recent trends, the Russian response to the doping scandal was predictable; initial denials, followed by the promise (threat) that those guilty of such practices would be held to account.

Russian media makes flat out denials re the sports doping scandal

List of Russia’s responses to the doping scandal

That, however, was followed by something infinitely more disturbing on Thursday 12^th November, the day before the decision was taken to suspend it. Apparently “accidentally,” details were released on television of of a new nuclear torpedo that Russia is now developing which could apparently contaminate the entire American coast. It is impossible to believe that such material could possibly be broadcast by mistake on state Russian television news.

See this report from the BBC

On the other side of Vladmir Putin’s chess table: Gary Kasparov

This former chess grand master is one of Vladimir Putin’s most vociferous critics. He no longer regards it as safe to live in Russia, and has written extensively on why he believes Vladimir Putin is  threat to world peace. As a sample of the warnings that he has sounded, see this article in der Spiegel, and this one in The Atlantic.

You can read more about Russia on our button on the Malvern Mashal, Russia

There are many other themes I would like to have referred to in this brief overview, but I hope that each one may make its mark in our lives, and help us to pray for the people as well as the issues concerned.

Keep Vladimir Putin and indeed all ministry to the Russian people in prayer. Anti-western attitudes are increasingly being fed to them through the state media causing a general hardening of heart. From what we can gather, the nations feels a long way from the longed for revival. May there be no corresponding hardness against the gospel, but rather the reverse, and for the day to come when many Russian believers pour out of the country, taking the gospel with them, as has indeed long been prophesied.

Praying for Russia

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Putin, Russia

Many years before the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Lord frequently used to call us as a group to action stations to pray about the “menace” that Russia posed to the nations. At the end of our time in Oxford, one of our flatmates had a dream that, long after people had forgotten about it (from a military point of view at any rate) Russia would rise again and spring into action. Russia’s continuing flexing of its military might in Ukraine and Syria remind us of verses God spoke to us through many decades ago, such as Jeremiah 6:22, prompting us once more into pray about the direction the nation is moving in.

Russia’s flexing of its military might in Syria reminds us of verses God spoke to us through many decades ago, such as Jeremiah 6:22,

The Effect of Sanctions and Propaganda

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propaganda, Putin, sanctions

Sanctions from the West and Japan have undoubtedly hurt Russia, especially since they were extended to embrace financial defence and energy sectors, but they have in no ways encouraged Putin to change direction and do a volte face. We are rather in a serious trade war with the tit-for-tat from Moscow banning food imports from the West. Next steps being considered include diamond, caviar and vodka – and perhaps boycotting or even cancelling Russia’s right to host the World Cup in 2018.

The sanctions policy have held up so far, but are causing increasing internal strain between western nations. The EU is split in two, with Britain leading the pro-sanctions side and a sizeable group complaining that the “punishment” has cost the EU itself a great deal of money in terms of lost exports to Russia.

President Putin – playing a wily game or overreaching himself?

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crisis, Putin, Ukraine

Many were suggesting earlier this year that Vladimir Putin was playing a very canny “chess” game in out-manoeuvring the West by successfully annexing Crimea. Look more closely and the paradoxes and with them the dangers multiply. As recently as 1991 Russia couldn’t wait to obtain independence – now it is blindly following a leaderwho undoubtedly hankers after the “glories” of the former Soviet Union. One thing is for certain: Russian TV is presenting these issues in an entirely different light from our own networks!

We sent out important thoughts about the whole nature of “propaganda” back in March of this year; this might be a good time to revisit that article.

In a recent BBC Panorama the outspoken broadcaster John Sweeney concluded his programme on Putin by sounding extremely strong warnings to the effect that risk “the lights going out once again” over Europe. The Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church goes still further, stating on record his belief that President Putin has actually opened his heart to Satan and become demonised.

On a number of occasions – not least during an excellent interview he gave on Hard Talk on the BBC – President Poreshenko reinforced the warning that events in Ukraine have the potential to destabilise the whole of Europe. But let’s not forget either that the majority of people in Eastern Ukraine actually want independence from Kiev, and that the Kiev government itself has been guilty of equally grievous outrages in terms of shelling civilian populations.

We have suggested before that the root of the crisis in Ukraine has every bit as much to do with the EU’s far from lily white attempts to incorporate Ukraine into NATO, rather than just with Putin’s desire to restore former Russian territory.  This article effectively says the same thing.

Secondly, recent reports indicate that several thousand Russian troops are currently leaving Ukraine and returning to their home country. (Troops which Russia, of course, denies were ever there!) This makes the decision to implement sanctions perhaps the more surprising. These present ones are far more far reaching, affecting such things as Russia’s determined advances to extract oil in the Arctic (it is well ahead of other countries in this lucrative sphere).

See articles such as this one for a glimpse of how far reaching these sanctions could be, were the EU and America to act seriously in consort.

See also this article from the Financial Times

These matters merit prayer, not least because they will potentially affect a very large number of jobs in both Europe as well as being designed to “hobble” the Russian economy. Needless to say, such measures invite inevitable retribution from Moscow; retaliatory measures are expected to be announced quite possibly later this same day.

The stakes are high. France’s decision not to supply an already paid for helicopter assault ship to Russia was a courageous decision. Since the beginning of the summer, some 400 Russian sailors have been training in western France on operating the Vladivostok.

France, which is suffering from record-high unemployment and stagnant growth, risks losing much-needed receipts from the sale, as well as its credibility as a weapons exporter. But, make no mistake about it, this ship (and another one to come after it) would greatly enhance Russia’s strike capacity.

Whichever way you look at it, this is an important and strategic time to be praying for the extremely delicate situation the new leaders of the EU have inherited. May the Lord’s mercy be in the to-ing and the fro-ing.

In Search of Greater Russia

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Crimea, Putin

It would be unwise to trust every word Putin says

In an article entitled ‘Threat of future Russian aggression remains,’ (20-3-2014) the Financial Times leads by saying, “We do not want to divide Ukraine . . .declared Vladimir Putin in his triumphant speech to Russia’s parliament [last] Tuesday. Other Ukrainian regions, he added, would not follow Crimea in breaking away. But Mr Putin had said two weeks earlier he “did not consider” the possibility of Crimea joining Russia. On Tuesday, he welcomed it into the Russian Federation.”

If you would like to read this article in full, sign up to claim eight free articles a month from The Financial Times. The bottom line is that the Russian propaganda system is working overtime to spin the myth that Russia’s ‘Slavic brothers’ are in desperate need of being rescued from the ‘Fascists’ who have taken over in Kiev.

Clampdown and Censorship