Putin mobilising his 'supporters' in the EU

"President Vladimir Putin has urged government officials to work over the lengthy New Year's holidays, saying they "cannot afford" to take the time off amid the country's economic crisis.

Much of Russia comes to a standstill during the 10-day official holidays that run from New Year's Day until after Orthodox Christmas. With weekends factored in, most of the country's employees will be off until Jan. 11 this year — but not government officials, Putin told a Cabinet meeting Thursday." (The St. Petersburg Times: December 27, 2014)

This represents a blow to Putin's prime constituency viz. the teachers, doctors, administration officials, local authority employees, and many other bureaucrats, that have been constantly bribed with higher salaries and more amenable working conditions. 

Added to which, as CBS reports, major credit card companies Visa and Mastercard are no longer offering services in Crimea. This blow comes just as people are preparing for the New Year celebrations.

These economic difficulties confronting Putin's prime constituency are as nothing compared to the fact that every third property in Russia is bought with a mortgage,

".Russian authorities are mobilizing to clamp down on spiraling mortgage costs as a looming recession erodes real wages and threatens to hammer homebuyers. . ." (The St. Petersburg Times: Monday, December 29, 2014)

Russia's professional class is being hit where it will hurt most viz. mortgage re-payments and falling real wages.

Journalists attend news conference of Ukrainian 
President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, December 
29, 2014

It is therefore no wonder that Putin will be attending a meeting with Poroshenko, Merkel, and Hollande on the 15th January 2015, as reported by Reuters (Kiev Mon Dec 29, 2014)

Meanwhile, Putin's propaganda mouthpiece, Russia Today (RT) reports that Putin's favourite EU Foreign Affairs High Representative, the 'fragrant' Mogherini, 

"...[d]uring an interview with Italy's la Repubblica newspaper,  ....... suggested opening up direct dialogue with Moscow.
 
“On the one hand, we should strengthen our support for Ukraine, where the internal economic situation could very quickly become very serious. And, on the other hand, we should begin a direct debate with Moscow on our relations and the role Russia could play in other scenarios of the crisis,” Mogherini said." (RT : December 29, 2014)

Now there are a few rather strange points in this statement of the 'fragrant' Mogherini.

• "the internal economic situation in Ukraine could become very serious"-- Is Mogherini aware that just a few hours ago, "Ukraine's parliament backed a budget for 2015 on Monday that it had been under pressure to approve to secure the next tranche of financial aid under a $17 billion International Monetary Fund loan package, the Interfax news agency reported." (Reuters : Kiev Mon Dec 29, 2014)
•  Critically, the 'fragrant' Mogherini DOES NOT mention the fact that the Russian economy is practically on the verge of collapse. Why this focussing on the economy of Ukraine whilst turning a blind-eye on the parlous state of the Russian economy?
•  Is Mogherini aware of the impending meeting on the 15th January 2015 between the Putin that she so admires and Poroshenko, Merkel, and Hollande? 
• What, exactly, does she mean by, "the role Russia could play in other scenarios of the crisis"? This is a totally meaningless statement and could have been taken out of  a list of  "buzzwords" and "buzz phrases" that sound rather impressive but that is, in reality, totally meaningless e.g. "other scenarios of the crisis".

Perhaps even more bizarre, she rejected the idea,

"...that the EU’s position on the [Ukrainian] crisis differs from that of the US..." by arguing that,

“It is not true that there is a soft Europe stance, which opposes the US hardline position. On the contrary, the latest data shows that trade between Russia and Europe is declining, while trade between Russia and the US is increasing,” she pointed out. ". (ibid RT) (my emphasis)

What, exactly, does trade between the US and Europe have to do with the Ukrainian crisis? How can the fact that trade between the US and Europe is increasing have ANYTHING to do with their differing approaches to the Ukrainian crisis?

If this is strange logic, what follows is even more perplexing:

"Mogherini said that Washington's views on Russia match those of Europe, adding that “everyone wants to get out of the logic of confrontation.” (ibid RT) (my emphasis)

The 'logic of confrontation'???

These near meaningless 'diplomatic' statements of the 'fragrant' Mogherini strongly indicates that she is emerging as the spokeswoman for the EU's Russia-friendly states.

Who are these EU Russia-friendly states?

"The Russia-friendly camp includes Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia,.." (Andrew Rettman: euobserver : 29 Dec 2014)

Austria: Heinz Fischer         Czech Rep: Milos Zema        Slovakia: Andrej Kiska         Hungary: Janos Ader

Austria's Social Democrat Heinz Fischer makes absolutely no bones about his support of Putin, pushing the Putin-Lavrov "TROJAN idea of federalizing i.e. BREAKING UP, Ukraine.

"What the Ukraine crisis needs are talks around decentralization reforms, Fischer noted.
“Serious talk of reforms in the area of decentralization or federalization would have to be done, which would foster a situation in eastern Ukraine where both sides could live together.” (RT: December 29, 2014) (my emphasis)

And sitting on the sidelines of this Russian-friendly camp we have Mogherini's Italy, as well as Germany and France.

               Germany:  Merkel                               France: Hollande                                 Italy: Renzi

There does seem to be a growing rift between Merkel and her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"Until now, he has stuck closely to conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's firm line with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the comments to Der Spiegel suggested cracks may be emerging between the two." (Noah Barkin, Reuters : Dec. 22, 2014)

"Frank-Walter Steinmeier told German weekly Der Spiegel that he was worried Russia could be destabilized if EU sanctions were not eased." (ibid Noah Barkin)

whilst

"[Merkel]  sees no reason to think about changes to the EU's sanctions regime against Moscow at the moment .." (ibid Noah Barkin) (my emphasis)

Maybe Steinmeier should be made aware of the following information regarding the investigation by German authorities of Putin's criminal past.

And perhaps this explains the HOT-COLD attitude of Hollande towards Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Is Hollande suffering from the French 'Russian mirage'?

(to be continued)