Several astute observers of international relations, diplomacy, Russian-Wesatern relations, and the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War — for example, the perspicacious Alexander Mercouris – are arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s January 15th speech during his acceptance of credentials of new ambassadors to Moscow signalled a new hard line. The new line was in these observers’ view evident in Putin’s insistence that the West engage Russia in talks on a new security architecture for Europe. I, for one, am unable to see in this speech anything representing a new hard line. Rather, I see any manifestation of a possible new hard line in the escalation of Russia’s air war against Ukraine, but even here I doubt the significance of any Kremlin intensification of its war effort and its connection with recent Ukrainian- Western escalations.
The ‘new hard line’ version is that it is Moscow’s response to the attempted drone assassination of Putin at his Valdai residence, where some sources claim he was not located at the time when Kiev launched some 91 drones in the direction of the residence, as well as to the US-UK-Ukrainian war on tankers carrying Russian oil and the New Year’s Eve Ukrainian attack on a hotel in Khorly, Kherson region that killed some 25 civilians (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/01/new-year-drone-strike-kills-24-in-russian-occupied-ukraine-moscow-says). It is further claimed that Putin was holed up in consultations for the first decade of January to develop a new hard line and response to these attacks. ………………..
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About the Author –
Gordon M. Hahn, Ph.D., is an Expert Analyst at Corr Analytics, www.canalyt.com. Websites: Russian and Eurasian Politics, gordonhahn.com and gordonhahn.academia.edu
Dr. Hahn is the author of the new book: Russian Tselostnost’: Wholeness in Russian Thought, Culture, History, and Politics (Europe Books, 2022). He has authored five previous, well-received books: The Russian Dilemma: Security, Vigilance, and Relations with the West from Ivan III to Putin (McFarland, 2021); Ukraine Over the Edge: Russia, the West, and the “New Cold War” (McFarland, 2018); The Caucasus Emirate Mujahedin: Global Jihadism in Russia’s North Caucasus and Beyond (McFarland, 2014), Russia’s Islamic Threat (Yale University Press, 2007), and Russia’s Revolution From Above: Reform, Transition and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime, 1985-2000 (Transaction, 2002). He also has published numerous think tank reports, academic articles, analyses, and commentaries in both English and Russian language media.
Dr. Hahn taught at Boston, American, Stanford, San Jose State, and San Francisco State Universities and as a Fulbright Scholar at Saint Petersburg State University, Russia and was a senior associate and visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Kennan Institute in Washington DC, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), Akribis Group.