MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin called his critics foreign-funded “jackals” and accused the West of meddling in Russian politics in a scathing speech Wednesday meant to drum up support for the main pro-Kremlin party.
The thunderous attack came as Russia heads toward Dec. 2 parliamentary elections that have turned into a plebiscite on Putin and whether he should retain power after stepping down as president next year after two terms.
Thousands of flag-waving supporters who packed a Moscow sports arena for the speech joined in chants urging Putin to remain Russia’s “national leader.”
It isn’t clear what formal title he might hold, but he heads the ticket of the dominant United Russia party and has suggested he could become prime minister. ap surveys suggest the party will win two-thirds of the votes and a crushing 80 percent of the lower house of parliament’s 450 seats.
With approval ratings exceeding 70 percent, Putin cast the election as a black-and-white choice between the current economic boom and the poverty and political chaos of the 1990s — doomsday rhetoric clearly aimed at getting his supporters to the polls.
“Nothing is predetermined at all,” a grim-faced Putin said. “Stability and peace on our land have not fallen from the skies; they haven’t yet become absolutely, automatically secured.”
Addressing about 5,000 backers at the rally, which blended elements of a Soviet-era Communist Party congress with the raucous enthusiasm of an American political convention, Putin suggested his political opponents are working for Russia’s Western adversaries.
“Regrettably, there are those inside the country who feed off foreign embassies like jackals and count on support of foreign funds and governments, and not their own people,” Putin said.
“Now, they’re going to take to the streets. They have learned from Western experts and have received some training in neighboring (ex-Soviet) republics. And now they are going to stage provocations here,” he said.
Putin seemed to refer to anti-Kremlin demonstrations planned for this weekend in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Police have used force to break up several marches and demonstrations, beating and detaining dozens of protesters.
Putin, whose nearly eight years in power coincided with rising energy prices, has repeatedly charged that the West wants Russia weak and compliant.
“Those who confront us don’t want our plan to succeed,” he said. “They have different plans for Russia. They need a weak and ill state, they need a disoriented and divided society in order to do their deeds behind its back.”
