While fighters in Ukraine already receive certain advantages – sometimes only on paper or with delays – Vladimir Putin now intends to demonstrate that he can install those he judges to be the most deserving in command of the country.
4 mins
From our correspondent in Moscow,
It is one sign among many others that Vladimir Putin wants to promote – beyond the symbolic – the place of veterans in society. On Wednesday, October 2, late in the evening, Russian viewers were able to watch the promotional interview of Artiom Joga, appointed representative of the president in the Ural Federal District, with the head of state. Never has the appointment of a special presidential envoy to a region received such extensive media coverage. The information was then repeated several times on Thursday morning, notably on the television channel Perviy Kanal which opened its most watched television news with a report of more than 6 minutes on the subject.
Until now, this type of announcement was mostly mentioned in a few sentences in the newspapers. Even the appointment of Alexei Dioumin, reputed to be from Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, to a post of presidential advisor last May, was broadcast on television in the form of a short text and an extract from his speech. farewell to the Tula region of which he was until then governor. The country’s leading channel only devoted 55 seconds to this information.
Also readFrom Putin’s bodyguard to defender of Kursk, the irresistible rise of Alexei Dioumin
Until December 8, Artiom Joga was best known in nationalist circles as the former leader of the “Sparta” battalion in the Donetsk region. His media rating had exploded after the evening under the Kremlin’s gold when Vladimir Putin declared to him – to him, and not to the Russian population – in a confidential tone, be a candidate for a new mandate. The interview presented as informal was obviously not spontaneous; it served as an official declaration and was then broadcast on the Russian small screen as such.
“Time of Heroes”
Artiom Joga’s promotional interview this Wednesday evening was also entirely scripted on the Kremlin website. “ You and your loved ones fought for the interests of Russia, to ensure the security of our people, your son gave his life for this “, Vladimir Putin first said. “ You have done a lot for Donbass, for Russia in general. Today, after combat work, you head the Parliament of the Donetsk Republic and have practically completed your studies under the “Time of Heroes” platform. You have a very important job, but I want to make you an offer, I want to offer you the position of plenipotentiary representative of the President in the Ural Federal District. This is a huge job and also important. The Urals are an industrial region, a large number of enterprises of the military-industrial complex are concentrated there. »
Artiom Joga is in fact from the first promotion of a brand new training program intended for military medalists on the battlefield. Called “The Time of Heroes”, this program is placed under the leadership of the deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kirienko. In a Russia fled by the fringe of the anti-war, liberal and educated middle class who were able to follow it, and where the power accelerates the militarization of minds a little more every day, this federal program announced on February 29 must make it possible to increase the skills of personalities who have already demonstrated an essential criterion in the eyes of those in power: patriotic loyalty.
Some 44,000 questionnaires would have been completed to be part of the first promotion, and 83 candidates selected. All had to meet three criteria: having participated in the fighting in Ukraine, having completed higher education, and having experience “in managing people”. The inauguration of the program was notably marked by speeches from the head of diplomacy Sergei Lavrov and former President Dimitri Medvedev.
Benefits with mixed results
If the appointment of Artiom Joga constitutes the most prestigious to date, and if Vladimir Putin announced others immediately, including in the Kremlin, it is now also a question of showing that the program is working. Until now, in fact, few decisions of this type have met their objective. The privileged places for former soldiers in the elections resulted in rare nominations and only a handful of elected officials. As for the program of preferential places in universities for the children of combatants or veterans, it has caused many parents and teachers to cringe, and at this stage, none of these nudges have seemed – could it make it possible to glorify a brilliant educational career.
To the graduates of this program which has all the attention of the president, the government promises in any case a radiant future in this contemporary warlike Russia. Thursday morning, the Kremlin spokesperson even went so far as to declare: “ In the future, a participant in the “special operation” may become president “.