Putin finally answered Zelensky's letter - and did so from the podium of the economic forum in St. Petersburg, claiming he'd only read it that day, even though his spokesman had shown it to him the day before. The point isn't when he read it, but what he chose to say in public. And he chose to strike where it hurts most: legitimacy.

To Zelensky's jab about his age, Putin shot back coldly: "At my age many leaders carry out their duties. The question isn't age, but how much energy a person has." And then came the real blow - about elections. "Elections are essential!" Putin said, adding that staying in power without elections is a usurpation of power, which constitutes a criminal offense.

The irony here is thick as fog. A man who has ruled Russia for more than two decades and changed the constitution to stay, lecturing that power without elections is "usurpation." When the person with the least right to talk about elections talks the loudest about them - that's not an argument, it's a tactic. The goal isn't truth, the goal is to devour your opponent before he gets a chance to respond.

The rest of the speech was a display case of numbers. Russia is a world leader in nuclear energy: "Over 80 percent of nuclear power plant construction projects on the world market are carried out with Rosatom's participation," Putin said. He added a budget deficit of 2.6 percent of GDP - smaller than that of France and the US - unemployment of 2.2 percent and expected inflation of 5.2 percent by year's end.

The numbers are real, but the story they tell is carefully chosen. Every government knows how to pull out exactly the figures that suit it and set aside the ones that don't. The question Putin didn't answer is the one always missing from speeches like this: if everything is so good, why is the war still going on? The Balkans know speeches like this by heart - every one of our leaders pulls out numbers the same way when the story turns uncomfortable.