Putin pledges 'retribution' for attempts to 'divide' Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Thursday to crush anybody who tries to divide Russian society as he hailed the effectiveness and unwavering loyalty of his country’s powerful law enforcement agencies.

Putin has escalated a decades-long crackdown on civil society, independent media and opposition amid his military offensive in Ukraine, with dissent and criticism of the Kremlin outlawed and punishable by years-long prison sentences.

“Those who try to intimidate people, to split our society, to play on religious or national feelings will never succeed,” Putin said in a video message posted by the Kremlin. “Inevitable and just retribution awaits them,” he added.

Russia regularly uses such language to describe those who oppose the Kremlin, including domestic critics who Moscow paints as being Western spies or puppets.

Putin was marking Russia’s “Investigation Officers’ Day” and paid tribute to various Russian law enforcement agencies, including the Investigative Committee and the FSB security services, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

“Investigators show unconditional loyalty to the Fatherland and our people,” Putin said.

Critics of the Kremlin say Russia’s focus on investigating and prosecuting its domestic political opponents and rivals have left it blind to genuine security threats.

In March, armed gunmen killed more than 140 at a Moscow concert hall in the country’s most deadly terror attack in almost two decades.

The incident came just days after warnings from Western intelligence agencies that Putin publicly rejected as “blackmail” and an attempt to “destabilise our society”.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, but Putin and other officials tried to link the massacre to Ukraine, without providing any evidence.

Almost all of Putin’s main opponents are in jail or have fled into exile.

Having stamped out dissent and passed strict military censorship laws that make criticism of the military illegal, Putin has repeatedly claimed Russian society is united behind his offensive on Ukraine.