Yesterday, rumors of an upcoming address by Vladimir Putin to the Russian people on the coronavirus issue resurfaced. Towards the end of the day, however, Dmitry Peskov announced that Putin would not make a special address to all Russians, but would limit himself to a meeting with presidential envoys in the federal districts. Nevertheless, a few sentences from this message were enough for the Russian people to discuss it for the second day in a row. Or, to be more precise, the peoples of Russia, as they perceived them differently.
«Our country has gone through serious trials: both the Pechenegs and the Polovtsy have tormented it — Russia has coped with everything. We will also overcome this coronavirus infection. Together we will overcome everything,» the «national leader» decided to encourage his subordinates.
But it turned out to be the opposite. Russians as a whole understood that the «national leader» had no other means to motivate them than epic tales from ancient times. The educated part of society openly laughed at the fact that Putin confused various historical periods and events from the history of ancient Russia with the history of Russia, which emerged half a millennium later, counting from Muscovy. Not to mention the modern Russian Federation. The majority of the Turkic peoples in the country perceived these discussions about the «Polovtsy and Pechenegs tormenting Russia» as another opposition of Russia to the Turks and an indication that they are a hostile element for it. After all, the Turkic peoples of the Russian Federation, such as Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais, Karachays, and Balkars, belong to the Kipchak branch of the Turks, which is synonymous with the Polovtsy branch. What does this mean? Are they not equal peoples and founders of the Russian Federation through their republics, but its eternal enemies?
In general, if the recent address of the «national leader» to the country was intended to strengthen the trust of Russians in him, then the effect of just one of his phrases, dissected into hundreds of memes, was exactly the opposite. Mockery from some and outrage from others — these are the results of Putin’s «victory over Polovtsy and Pecheneg» yesterday.