“Actions speak louder than words” and Vladimir Putin has proved it pretty well true. No media promotional stunts or victory-bragging occurred, therefore Putin abstained from engaging in any phoney public relations work. He merely believed in actions, so that is what he did! He eventually achieved his objectives, which were to annex Donbas and to clear a path to the Black Sea. Hence, Putin emerged as a man of action.
However, Zelensky, who bragged about his alleged success using sponsored PR through the Western media, appears to have failed in his approach.
Considering the Russia-Ukraine war, one can see the two approaches. One is Zelensky’s, the other is Putin’s. Zelensky openly employed the media and speeches to disseminate his propaganda.
Zelensky’s blabbering in the media
Zelensky utilised the media to exaggerate Ukraine’s military victories over militarily superior Russian forces, although these events only occurred in Zelensky’s fantasies. In order to succeed, he even used a guilt-based narrative to shame NATO nations into giving additional weaponry to assist Ukrainians defend themselves and for not severing economic ties with Russia quickly enough.
That is how Zelensky used the Western media to downscale the reputation of Russia and tried to make the world believe that Putin was losing the war.
But on the contrary, Putin remained a man of action. Russian forces continued to advance piece by piece until they eventually took control of crucial areas including Donbas, the port city of Mariupol, the city of Lysychansk, and the entire Luhansk region. Thus, Russia was successful in achieving its objectives of forming strong access to Crimea. Therefore his ‘no PR approach’ made him a clear winner.
Putin- Man of action
Additionally, if we look at the bigger geopolitical picture, Russia has again emerged as a winner.
We may support this claim by citing the following examples: You see, very much to the dismay of the West, Indonesia bolstered its support for Russia for its participation at the G-20 summit. Indonesia out rightly asked the attendees to discuss the solution to end the war rather than condemning Russia.
Read more: A setback awaits Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Indonesia
Furthermore, Zelensky requested a virtual gathering with the heads of African countries to garner support and sympathy for Ukraine. But, Zelensky’s gimmicks were outrightly rejected by African leaders. Out of the fifty-five heads of state that were invited, only four actually attended the meeting.
The other countries refused to send their heads of state or government even if the meeting was virtual and instead sent just ambassadors or ministries. And the primary cause of this outright denial of the opportunity to meet Zelensky was the allegation that Kyiv is engaging in a wholly unacceptable arms trade with the US and Europe, one in which food is exchanged for weapons. The same food that could actually fend off terrible hunger for millions of Africans.
Putin was also able to maintain good economic relations with Asian giants like India and China. The BRICS partners stood by Russia to counter sanctions, thereby in confrontation with the US and EU.
They dealt with Russia in Oil and Gas. And despite this, the US-led West could not do much against China and India. With the West penalizing Russia, these two nations could easily withstand the burden of rising oil and gas prices. USA rather has now come up with CAATSA waiver for India to appease New Delhi.
Additionally, traditionally staunch US allies like Brazil and Mexico have openly declared their support for Russia.
For instance, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has already stated that his country will not sanction Russia in any way. As a result, the President used the tenet of non-interference in international affairs to support his position. Recently, Brazil’s decision to buy Russian oil indicates Putin’s successful diplomatic campaign.
Nevertheless, from Putin’s side, there was no PR campaign. He was pretty simple with his words and also with his actions. He didn’t have to beg for any financial or military help, unlike Zelensky.
Whereas Zelensky used the paid PR just to proclaim his bogus agenda of defeating Russia in the war. But to his bad fortune, this overarching narrative in the Western media didn’t last long. Eventually, it turned out that Russia’s “No PR strategy” outfoxed the paid “PR strategy” of Ukraine.
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