Paul Goble
Staunton,
July 18 –Donald Trump’s correction of the record of his remarks in Helsinki
about Russian interference in the 2016 US elections has attracted a great deal
of attention, much of its skeptical; but so far, there has been less attention
to a similar “correction” by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
In
his remarks at the joint press conference in Helsinki, the Kremlin leader said
in response to a question about Crimea, “President Trump’s position is
well-known, and he maintains it. He speaks about the illegality of joining
Crimea to the Russian Federation” (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/58017).
“We
have a different point of view. We consider that we conducted the referendum in
strict correspondence with international law and the UN Charter. For Russia,” Putin
said at the time, “this question is closed.”
But
Russia’s Insider portal has called
attention to the fact that the official Kremlin website has modified the
Russian president’s words. It has
dropped the word “we” throughout lest there be any notion that Moscow was
behind the Crimean referendum rather that that vote accepted as a free expression
of the will of the Crimean population (theins.ru/news/110464).
At Helsinki and quite possibly just like
his opposite counterpart on a different issue, Putin let slip his real view,
one that is closer to the truth – Moscow orchestrated the referendum to ratify its
military seizure of Ukrainian territory – but that his aides back in Moscow,
certainly with his approval, have “corrected” the record to reflect Moscow’s “official”
position rather than reality.
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