Putin’s Message to Ukraine: “Keep on working, Brothers”

Vladimir Putin used a phrase during the closing session of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that I think most non-Russians missed or ignored. He said, “Work, Brothers.” First, let me explain the context for Putin saying this.

Zelensky published an open letter to Putin that I, and many others, believe was timed deliberately to coincide with the SPIEF plenary session… This was a provocative move aimed at disrupting the forum’s atmosphere. Putin was asked about it during the question and answer period of the final session. He called the letter “rude” and said it was “no way to set up a face-to-face meeting.” Putin went on to reveal that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had tried to show him the letter on two separate occasions — first on June 4, then again just before arriving at SPIEF for his speech this morning (Friday, June 5). He described the letter during his answer in a dismissive way, i.e., he did not think it worthy of a serious response.

Rather than engage with Zelensky’s proposals, Putin turned away from the letter entirely. He said the ones to be addressed were Russia’s combatants and soldiers at the line of contact, telling them:

The country is proud of you and places its hopes on you. We should address not the authors of this letter, nor lovers of the epistolary genre, but our fighters on the front line.

He then closed with the phrase: “Work, brothers!”

To understand the import of that phrase you need to be introduced to Magomed Nurbagandov:

Magomed Nurbagandovich Nurbagandov (January 9, 1985 – July 10, 2016) was a police lieutenant serving in the National Guard of Russia, stationed in Kaspiysk in the Republic of Dagestan. He was a Dargin by nationality, born in the village of Sergokala. By all accounts an exceptional student — he graduated from lyceum with a gold medal and then with honors from the law faculty of Dagestan State University.

On the morning of July 10, 2016, Nurbagandov was vacationing with his family near the village of Sergokala when he was attacked by five armed militants. Having learned he was a policeman, the militants forced him and his brother into the trunk of a stolen car, drove them away from the recreation area, and then shot them. The murder was filmed on a mobile phone and posted on an extremist website. Wikipedia

The militants’ goal was psychological — they wanted him to appear on camera and call on his fellow officers to quit the police and stop fighting. Instead, looking directly at the camera, Nurbagandov urged: “Keep on working, brothers” (Работайте, братья) — an act which took tremendous courage.

The militants had uploaded an edited version of the video where they cut out Nurbagandov’s last words. His defiance was suppressed — until fate intervened. Several militants from the group were killed in September 2016, and when examining the bodies, the mobile phone that had filmed the original, unedited video was found. The full footage — with his final words intact — was then released by Russian authorities. The phrase went viral on September 12, 2016, and became a nationwide sensation.

Since the publication of the unedited video, the phrase “Work, brothers!” has been heard repeatedly on Russian state radio and television, used in media, public speeches, documentary films, appeals, reports, and campaigns. It carries a layered meaning — defiance in the face of death, loyalty to colleagues, and a refusal to be used as a propaganda tool by the enemy. The phrase has since taken on a life beyond the counter terrorism context — used broadly in Russia as an expression of stoic perseverance and professional duty, particularly in military and law enforcement circles.

By invoking it in front of the international audience at SPIEF, Putin was making a layered statement: that Zelensky’s letter was an enemy propaganda exercise, that it deserved to be treated with the same contempt Nurbagandov showed his captors, and that the only people worth addressing are those doing the actual fighting. Putin’s visage was grim when he spoke this phrase.

Shifting topics, I want to comment on the latest exchange of missiles and drones between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf. Here’s my theory: the Execute Order that the US forces are operating under probably stipulates that their mission is to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and to identify and destroy communications and weapon systems in the area that the Iranians use to intercept vessels.

Here is the IRGC’s explanation of what happened:

In the name of God, the breaker of the tyrants, So whoever attacks you, attack him in the same way he attacked you.

At 01:30 AM today, four violating oil tankers, provoked and directed by the invading US army, attempted to illegally exit the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and without heeding the warnings issued by the IRGC Navy. After the warning, one of the oil tankers was targeted and stopped, and the other violating vessels turned back.

Following this incident, at 2 o’clock, American drones struck a communications facility in Qeshm and another in Sirik with two projectiles. In response to the aggression of the child-killing US army, immediately two US airbases in Kuwait named Ali Al-Salem and the important remaining facilities in the US Fifth Fleet naval base in Bahrain were targeted by ballistic missile fire from the IRGC Aerospace Force.

It is possible that the US is using the tankers as bait in order to identify Iranian firing positions and the communications assets used to target the ships trying to sail through the Strait. At this juncture I do not believe that the US will use these encounters as a pretext to go back to a full war footing and launch massive attacks inside Iran. Notwithstanding these maritime and aerial skirmishes, it does appear that serious negotiations are underway. I don’t know if they will succeed, but the US is clearly caught in a “no win” situation.

I had a 30 minute chat with my buddy, Rasheed Muhammad, to start my morning:

Colonel Wilkerson and I had our regular Friday conversation with Nima:

Ray McGovern and I had a rousing session with Judge Napolitano:

Mario and I began the conversation just as news began breaking about new US attacks on Iran. I speculated that Iran would be hitting back soon:

I left Mario’s podcast and was hosted by Sulaiman, where we continued to discuss the breaking news about the missile strikes. We got word 40 minutes into the show that Iran had retaliated:

Twenty minutes after saying good-bye to Sulaiman, Mario’s producer called pleading for me to make a return visit to discuss the implications of the new strikes: