History has a bad habit of repeating itself, and that seems to be especially true in Russia. Just check out the several “False Dmitry” claimants to the Russian throne of the 16th and 17th Centuries — but only if you have several hours to spare.

Today, we have the 21st Century’s variants of Dmitry I (Dmitry Medvedev – Deputy head of the Russian Security Council) and Dmitry II (Dmitry Peskov – official Kremlin Spokesman), who seem to be the classic case of the left hand not knowing what’s going to come out of the right hand’s mouth at any given time.

Sorry about the mixed-up metaphor, but you know what I mean.

So here’s what happened, going back a year to September 30, 2022. On that date, Vladimir Putin signed something known as the “agreement on the accession to Russia” of the Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts [regions] of Ukraine, gratuitously declaring the residents of those territories to be citizens of the Russian Federation. Not that those Ukrainian citizens (with the exception of a minority of misguided militant miscreants) had actually requested Russian citizenship . . . but that didn’t seem to matter to Putin. It never does.

Oh, and about that “agreement.” I was always under the impression that, in order to have an agreement about anything, you need at least two parties. Otherwise, you’d just be agreeing with yourself, which seems rather pointless. But this “agreement” was signed by the Russian President, approved by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, and later ratified by the Russian State Duma and the Russian Federation Council. What seems to be missing is a signature of anyone from Ukraine. So, isn’t it in fact an ukaz (decree), and not an agreement? Hmm . . .

Well, regardless of that one tiny question of legality, on September 28, 2023, Mr. Putin signed a law establishing September 30th as the “Day of Reunification” of those four Ukrainian regions. Done and done! Let’s party.

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Now, back on August 6, 2023, the aforementioned False Dmitry II — that’s Dmitry Peskov, official loudmouth of the Kremlin — had stated unequivocally that “Russia does not want more Ukrainian territory” . . . and that “those four oblasts, plus Crimea, are enough.” [Ukrainska Pravda, September 30, 2023.] Note that he carefully omitted any mention of the fact that they had illegally been included in the Russian Constitution in the first place. But again . . . details, details, details.

But False Dmitry I — Medvedev — couldn’t leave well enough alone. Because on September 30, 2023 — the first official recognition of the newly memorialized “Day of Reunification” — he was quoted on Telegram as saying:

”The special military operations [known to the rest of the world as the war against Ukraine] will continue until Kyiv’s Nazi regime is annihilated and historically Russian territories are liberated from the enemy. The victory will be ours. More new territories will become part of Russia” [Ukrainska Pravda, September 30, 2023] . . . thus also effectively annihilating False Dmitry II’s credibility — whatever that might have been worth to begin with.

There really isn’t time to dissect that brief paragraph for its multitude of inaccuracies and outright lies. And frankly, it isn’t worth dignifying with a response. It’s just so Stalinesque.

And there you have them: the two newest additions to the Russian version of “Send In the Clowns” — Dmitry Medvedev and Dmitry Peskov — supposedly working their act in unison, but instead tripping over each other’s tongues. “Isn’t it rich . . . ?”

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But wait . . . there’s more. In Russia, there’s always more.

Without warning, the very next day — yesterday, October 1, 2023 — up popped our late friend Yevgeny Prigozhin (not literally, I’m happy to note — that would have been too creepy, even for Russia). In an interesting confluence of events, “dozens of mourners,” including his mother and his son Pavel, showed up and laid flowers at Yevgeny’s grave in St. Petersburg, where he was hailed as a “‘patriot’ who defended Russian interests abroad.” [Alexander Butler and Tara Cobham, Independent, October 1, 2023.] Some supporters were carrying the black flags of the Wagner Group.

And a Wagner recruitment member posted on Telegram: “He can be criticized for certain events, but he was a patriot who defended the motherland’s interests on different continents.” [Independent, October 1, 2023.]

“Prigozhin is dead. Long live Prigozhin!”

I wonder: Exactly how long is that going to be?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
October 2, 2023