If Putin Doesn’t Defeat Fifth Column, Yanukovych’s Fate Awaits Him

In an exclusive interview with KM.RU, Konstantin Valentinovich Sivkov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Affairs, analyzes Vladimir Putin’s statements at today’s Security Council meeting.

Russia Has Nuclear Capabilities and No One Is Going To Mess with Us

I’m absolutely certain that they’re telling the press very little of what went on in the Security Council. But the main thing, in my opinion, is as follows: Vladimir Putin has realized that our country is in danger of losing its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The question arises: How so?

To be sure, it isn’t about someone’s tank columns or tank thrusts. Russia has nuclear capabilities and no one is going to mess with us. I’m talking about the fact that our leaders have been preoccupying themselves with the question of how to counteract “colored revolutions,” and rightly so!

It has become clear that the U.S. is seriously going about preparing a revolution inside Russia. Putin has understood what kind of processes might begin around here, taking into account sanctions and internal sabotage. How is he going to neutralize the threat? The pawns speak at rallies and run through fields — nothing will come of a fight with them. A blow must be dealt to the organizers, and by no means is that to say the “unified opposition,” which meets twice a year and babbles about nothing. The oligarchy and those officials who have been entrenched in power since the Yeltsin era need to be dealt with. There should not be two authorities in the country, one political and the other financial. If such a situation suddenly emerges, one of them will eventually yield to the other.

If Putin Draws the Right Conclusions, He Will Become a Great Man

In the U.S., the real power lies in the hands of Wall Street’s bosses, while the president is a symbolic figure. This came about long ago and is indisputable, but on our end that isn’t how it is. In Russia there are two scenarios: Either the president becomes an errand boy for the domestic Kolomoyskyis or he turns into the unconditional leader of the country.* The U.S. won’t forgive Putin for spoiling the American script in Syria; it won’t forgive him for how he is acting on the Ukraine question. A patriotic movement has arisen in Novorossiya,* and our president has not begun to stand in its way.

Therefore, he has only one option: to become a leader on the level of Stalin. Well, if not on the level of Stalin, then nevertheless close to it … If he doesn’t take the path of suppressing the actions of the fifth column in its entirety and replacing the liberal cadres within the country’s leadership (especially those who support a monetary model of market economy development), then Yanukovych’s fate awaits him.

Putin is no fool, and I think he understands it all. Let’s recall how things went with Yanukovych. He ended up in a dilemma of whether to hold onto his money or to stay in power, and at that point he decided to negotiate with the U.S. He bargained for a long time, and the result was that he lost almost everything. However, Yanukovych had somewhere to run, and he held on to some money for a decent life in Russia. Vladimir Vladimirovich has nowhere to retreat to. But if Putin draws the right conclusions from what happened with Yanukovych, he will become a great man.

*Editor’s note: Ukrainian billionaire and governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region Ihor Kolomoyskyi has been accused by Russia of committing war crimes in connection with his support of forces fighting against separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

**Editor’s note: Novorossiya is a historical name for a region north of the Black Sea, presently encompassed by both Russia and Ukraine.