Putin, Tilting at History

In his first public comments since ordering Russian troops into Crimea, Vladimir Putin gave a long and characteristically pugnacious explanation for his actions on Tuesday. Much of what he said was fanciful; some of it was acute. Bits of it were reassuring; other bits were threatening. All in all, the Russian leader gave the impression that he is comfortable with the situation his forces have established on the ground, that he is unlikely to buckle to Western protestations, and, ultimately, that he is tilting at history.

The morning news from the Kremlin was that Putin, at least for now, has ruled out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops who were on exercises near the Ukrainian border back to their barracks. But Putin did not rule out further military measures. “We will not go to war with the Ukrainian people,” he said. “If we do take military action, it will only be for the protection of the Ukrainian people,” and it will be “the very last resort.” That was enough to calm the global financial markets, which are more concerned with the immediate prospect of violence than with whether Putin was lying when he described the heavily armed soldiers patrolling Crimea as local self-defense forces.

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