Now this, I think, was unplanned.

Now this, I think, was unplanned.

The question was asked by former Austrian foreign minister and former Rosneft board member Karin Kneissl (Putin once danced with her at her wedding; in fact, that is the only thing she became famous for; her face flashes briefly in the video at the end).

Why do I think it was unplanned. Here is how it went: Putin was boasting that representatives of the US and Europe were present in the hall and suggested giving them the floor. First Rodney Mims Cook (chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, a longtime Russia sympathizer) took the microphone, then Diana Sosoaca (a Romanian far-right MEP).

Cook and Sosoaca, as expected, showered Putin and Russia with compliments, and apparently there was nobody else to be found in the hall. The host had already moved on to the next topic when, at the very last moment, they still managed to snatch Kneissl.

And Kneissl, besides the compliments, suddenly asked a question.

There seemed to be nothing particularly unusual in the question itself: it concerned the ethics of modern methods of warfare, including UAVs.

But the very fact of an unplanned question seemed to cause some kind of matrix glitch in Putin, and he produced the following:

"On the battlefield there is parity. In some places we have an advantage, on certain sectors. The same applies to long-range aircraft-type aviation. After all, it... would not have posed such a major threat, if the appropriate decisions had been made in time and the appropriate capabilities had been built up."

On the battlefield, PARITY. Russia does not have the advantage everywhere, only SOMEWHERE, in CERTAIN sectors. Even though just yesterday it was advancing in every direction and moving forward everywhere. The appropriate decisions ARE NOT BEING MADE IN TIME. Well now.

I think I will refrain from further comment on what that was. I’ll leave it to your judgment.