Dear citizens of Russia! Dear friends!
Today, I once again consider it necessary to return to the tragic events taking place in the Donbas and the key issues of ensuring the security of Russia itself.
I will start with what I said in my address of February 21 of this year. We are talking about what causes us particular concern and alarm, about those fundamental threats that are being rudely and unceremoniously created by irresponsible politicians in the West against our country from year to year step by step. I am referring to the expansion of the NATO bloc to the east, the approximation of its military infrastructure to the Russian borders.
It is well known that for 30 years we have been persistently and patiently trying to agree with the leading NATO countries on the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we have constantly faced either cynical deception and lies, or attempts of pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic Alliance, despite all our protests and concerns, is steadily expanding. The military machine is moving and, I repeat, is approaching our borders closely.
Why is all this happening? Where does this brazen manner of talking from the position of one’s own exclusivity, infallibility and permissiveness come from? Why the disregard, disdainful attitude towards our interests and absolutely legitimate demands?
The answer is clear, everything is clear and obvious. The Soviet Union weakened at the end of the 80s of the last century, and then completely collapsed. The whole course of events that took place then is a good lesson for us today, it has convincingly shown that the paralysis of power, will is the first step towards complete degradation and oblivion. It cost us then to lose self-confidence for a while, and that’s it – the balance of power in the world turned out to be broken.
This has led to the fact that the previous agreements and agreements are no longer in effect. Persuasion and requests do not help. Everything that does not suit the hegemon, the powers that be, is declared archaic, outdated, unnecessary. And vice versa: everything that seems profitable to them is presented as the ultimate truth, pushed through at any cost, boorishly, by all means. Dissenters are broken through the knee.
What I am talking about now concerns not only Russia and not only us. This applies to the entire system of international relations, and sometimes even to the US allies themselves. After the collapse of the USSR, the redistribution of the world actually began, and the norms of international law that had developed by that time – and the key, basic ones were adopted following the results of the Second World War and largely consolidated its results – began to interfere with those who declared themselves the winner in the Cold War.
Of course, in practical life, in international relations, in the rules for their regulation, it was necessary to take into account the changes in the situation in the world and the balance of power itself. However, it should have been done professionally, smoothly, patiently, taking into account and respecting the interests of all countries and with an understanding of their responsibility. But no – a state of euphoria from absolute superiority, a kind of modern kind of absolutism, and even against the background of a low level of general culture and the swagger of those who prepared, accepted and pushed profitable decisions only for themselves. The situation began to develop according to a different scenario.
There is no need to go far for examples. At first, without any UN Security Council sanction, they conducted a bloody military operation against Belgrade, used aircraft and missiles right in the very center of Europe. Several weeks of continuous bombing of peaceful cities, life-supporting infrastructure. We have to recall these facts, otherwise some Western colleagues do not like to recall those events, and when we talk about it, they prefer to point not to the norms of international law, but to the circumstances that they interpret as they see fit.
Then it was the turn of Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The illegitimate use of military force against Libya, the perversion of all the decisions of the UN Security Council on the Libyan issue led to the complete destruction of the state, to the fact that a huge hotbed of international terrorism arose, to the fact that the country plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe, into the abyss of a multi-year civil war that has not stopped until now. The tragedy to which hundreds of thousands, millions of people were doomed, not only in Libya, but throughout this region, gave rise to a mass migration exodus from North Africa and the Middle East to Europe.
A similar fate was prepared for Syria. The military actions of the Western coalition on the territory of this country without the consent of the Syrian government and the sanctions of the UN Security Council are nothing but aggression, intervention.
However, a special place in this series is occupied, of course, by the invasion of Iraq, also without any legal grounds. As an excuse, they chose the allegedly reliable information available to the United States about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. To prove this publicly, in front of the whole world, the US Secretary of State shook some kind of test tube with white powder, assuring everyone that this is the chemical weapons being developed in Iraq. And then it turned out that all this was a fraud, a bluff: there are no chemical weapons in Iraq. Incredibly, surprisingly, but the fact remains. There were lies at the highest state level and from the high rostrum of the UN. And as a result – huge casualties, destruction, an incredible surge of terrorism.
In general, it seems that almost everywhere, in many regions of the world, where the West comes to establish its order, bloody, unhealed wounds, ulcers of international terrorism and extremism remain as a result. All that I have said are the most egregious, but far from the only examples of disregard for international law.
In this row, and promises to our country not to expand one inch of NATO to the east. I repeat – they cheated, and in the vernacular, they just threw it. Yes, you can often hear that politics is a dirty business. Perhaps, but not as much, not to the same extent. After all, such cheating behavior contradicts not only the principles of international relations, but above all the generally recognized norms of morality and morality. Where is justice and truth here? Nothing but lies and hypocrisy.
By the way, American politicians, political scientists and journalists themselves write and say that a real “empire of lies” has been created within the United States in recent years. It’s hard to disagree with this – that’s the way it is. But do not be modest: the United States is still a great country, a system-forming power. All her satellites not only meekly and submissively agree, sing along to her for any reason, but also copy her behavior, enthusiastically accept the rules they propose. Therefore, with good reason, we can confidently say that the entire so-called Western bloc, formed by the United States in its own image and likeness, is the very “empire of lies”.
As for our country, after the collapse of the USSR, with all the unprecedented openness of the new modern Russia, readiness to work honestly with the United States and other Western partners and in conditions of virtually unilateral disarmament, they immediately tried to squeeze us, finish us off and destroy us completely. This is exactly what happened in the 90s, in the early 2000s, when the so-called collective West most actively supported separatism and gangs of mercenaries in the south of Russia. What sacrifices, what losses it all cost us then, what trials we had to go through before we finally broke the back of international terrorism in the Caucasus. We remember this and will never forget it.
In fact, until recently, attempts have not stopped to use us to their advantage, to destroy our traditional values and impose their pseudo-values on us, which would corrode us, our people from the inside, those attitudes that they are already aggressively planting in their countries and which directly lead to degradation and degeneration, since they contradict the very nature of man. This is not going to happen, and no one has ever been able to do it. It won’t work now either.
Despite everything, in December 2021, we once again made an attempt to agree with the United States and its allies on the principles of ensuring security in Europe and on non-expansion of NATO. All in vain. The US position does not change. They do not consider it necessary to negotiate with Russia on this key issue for us, pursuing their goals, neglecting our interests.
And of course, in this situation, we have a question: what to do next, what to wait for? We know well from history how in the 40th year and at the beginning of the 41st year of the last century, the Soviet Union tried in every possible way to prevent or at least delay the outbreak of war. To do this, among other things, he tried literally to the last not to provoke a potential aggressor, did not carry out or postponed the most necessary, obvious actions to prepare for repelling the inevitable attack. And the steps that were finally taken were already catastrophically late.
As a result, the country was not ready to fully meet the invasion of Nazi Germany, which attacked our Homeland without declaring war on June 22, 1941. The enemy was stopped and then crushed, but at a colossal cost. The attempt to appease the aggressor on the eve of the Great Patriotic War turned out to be a mistake that cost our people dearly. In the first months of the fighting, we lost huge, strategically important territories and millions of people. We will not make such a mistake a second time, we have no right.
Those who claim world domination, publicly, with impunity and, I emphasize, without any reason, declare us, Russia, their enemy. They really have great financial, scientific, technological and military capabilities today. We are aware of this and objectively assess the threats constantly addressed to us in the economic sphere – as well as our ability to resist this brazen and permanent blackmail. I repeat, we evaluate them without illusions, extremely realistically.
As for the military sphere, modern Russia, even after the collapse of the USSR and the loss of a significant part of its potential, is today one of the most powerful nuclear powers in the world and, moreover, has certain advantages in a number of new types of weapons. In this regard, no one should have any doubt that a direct attack on our country will lead to defeat and terrible consequences for any potential aggressor.
At the same time, technologies, including defense, are changing rapidly. Leadership in this area is changing and will continue to change hands, but the military development of the territories adjacent to our borders, if we allow it to be done, will remain for decades to come, and maybe forever, and will create an ever-increasing, absolutely unacceptable threat for Russia.
Already, as NATO expands to the east, the situation for our country is getting worse and more dangerous every year. Moreover, in recent days, the NATO leadership has been directly talking about the need to accelerate, accelerate the advance of the Alliance’s infrastructure to the borders of Russia. In other words, they are tightening their position. We can no longer just continue to observe what is happening. It would be absolutely irresponsible on our part.
Further expansion of the infrastructure of the North Atlantic Alliance and the military development of the territories of Ukraine that has begun are unacceptable to us. The point, of course, is not in the NATO organization itself – it is only an instrument of US foreign policy. The problem is that in the territories adjacent to us – I note, in our own historical territories – an “anti-Russia” hostile to us is being created, which is put under full external control, is being intensively settled by the armed forces of NATO countries and is being pumped up with the most modern weapons.
For the United States and its allies, this is the so-called policy of containing Russia, obvious geopolitical dividends. And for our country, it is ultimately a matter of life and death, a question of our historical future as a people. And this is not an exaggeration – it is true. This is a real threat not just to our interests, but to the very existence of our state, its sovereignty. This is the very red line that has been repeatedly talked about. They crossed it.
In this regard, and about the situation in the Donbass. We see that the forces that carried out a coup in Ukraine in 2014, seized power and are holding it with the help of, in fact, decorative electoral procedures, finally abandoned the peaceful settlement of the conflict. For eight years, for an infinitely long eight years, we have been doing everything possible to resolve the situation by peaceful, political means. All in vain.
As I said in my previous address, it is impossible to look at what is happening there without compassion. It was simply impossible to tolerate all this. It was necessary to immediately stop this nightmare – genocide against millions of people living there who rely only on Russia, rely only on you and me. It was these aspirations, feelings, and pain of people that were the main motive for us to make the decision to recognize the people’s republics of Donbass.
Which I think is important to emphasize further. The leading NATO countries, in order to achieve their own goals, support extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine in everything, who, in turn, will never forgive the Crimeans and Sevastopol residents their free choice – reunification with Russia.
They, of course, will climb into the Crimea, and in the same way as in the Donbass, with the war, in order to kill, as the punishers from the gangs of Ukrainian nationalists, Hitler’s accomplices during the Great Patriotic War, killed defenseless people. They also openly declare that they claim a number of other Russian territories.
The whole course of events and the analysis of incoming information shows that Russia’s clash with these forces is inevitable. It’s only a matter of time: they’re getting ready, they’re waiting for a convenient hour. Now they also claim to possess nuclear weapons. We will not allow this to happen.
As I said earlier, Russia has adopted new geopolitical realities after the collapse of the USSR. We respect and will treat all newly formed countries in the post-Soviet space with the same respect. We respect and will respect their sovereignty, and an example of this is the assistance we provided to Kazakhstan, which faced tragic events, a challenge to its statehood and integrity. But Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of modern Ukraine.
Let me remind you that in 2000-2005 we gave a military rebuff to terrorists in the Caucasus, defended the integrity of our state, and preserved Russia. In 2014, they supported the Crimeans and Sevastopol residents. In 2015, the Armed Forces were used to put a reliable barrier to the penetration of terrorists from Syria into Russia. We had no other way to protect ourselves.
The same thing is happening now. You and I have simply not been left with any other opportunity to protect Russia, our people, except for the one that we will have to use today. Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action. The People’s Republics of Donbass have appealed to Russia for help.
In this regard, in accordance with Article 51 of Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council of Russia and in pursuance of the treaties on friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22 of this year, I have decided to conduct a special military operation.
Its goal is to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years. And for this, we will strive to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to justice those who committed numerous, bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything on anyone by force. At the same time, we hear that recently in the West there are more and more words that the documents signed by the Soviet totalitarian regime that consolidate the results of the Second World War should no longer be carried out. Well, what’s the answer to that?
The results of the Second World War, as well as the sacrifices made by our people on the altar of victory over Nazism, are sacred. But this does not contradict the high values of human rights and freedoms, based on the realities that have developed today for all the post-war decades. It also does not cancel the right of nations to self-determination, enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter.
Let me remind you that neither at the creation of the USSR, nor after the Second World War, people who lived in certain territories that are part of modern Ukraine, no one ever asked how they themselves want to arrange their lives. At the heart of our policy is freedom, freedom of choice for everyone to independently determine their own future and the future of their children. And we consider it important that this right – the right of choice – can be used by all the peoples living on the territory of today’s Ukraine, by everyone who wants it.
In this regard, I appeal to the citizens of Ukraine. In 2014, Russia was obliged to protect the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol from those whom you yourself call “Nazis”. Crimeans and residents of Sevastopol have made their choice – to be with their historical homeland, with Russia, and we supported this. I repeat, they simply could not do otherwise.
Today’s events are not connected with the desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. They are connected with the protection of Russia itself from those who have taken Ukraine hostage and are trying to use it against our country and its people.
I repeat, our actions are self-defense against the threats posed to us and from an even greater disaster than what is happening today. No matter how hard it is, I ask you to understand this and call for cooperation in order to turn this tragic page as soon as possible and move forward together, not to allow anyone to interfere in our affairs, in our relations, but to build them independently – so that it creates the necessary conditions to overcome all problems and, despite the presence of state borders, would strengthen us from within as a whole. I believe in this – this is our future.
I must also appeal to the servicemen of the Armed forces of Ukraine.
Dear comrades! Your fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazis to defend our common Homeland, so that today’s neo-Nazis seized power in Ukraine. You took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people, and not to the anti-people junta, which is robbing Ukraine and mocking these very people.
Do not follow her criminal orders. I urge you to immediately lay down your weapons and go home. Let me explain: all servicemen of the Ukrainian army who fulfill this requirement will be able to freely leave the combat zone and return to their families.
I would like to stress once again: all responsibility for possible bloodshed will be entirely on the conscience of the regime ruling on the territory of Ukraine.
Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted from the outside to interfere in the events that are taking place. Whoever tries to prevent us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences that you have never encountered in your history. We are ready for any development of events. All the necessary decisions have been taken in this regard. I hope that I will be heard.
Dear citizens of Russia!
The well-being, the very existence of entire states and peoples, their success and viability always originate in the powerful root system of their culture and values, the experience and traditions of their ancestors and, of course, directly depend on the ability to quickly adapt to an ever-changing life, on the cohesion of society, its willingness to consolidate, to gather together all the forces to move forward.
Strength is always needed, always, but strength can be of different quality. The policy of the “empire of lies”, which I spoke about at the beginning of my speech, is primarily based on brute, straightforward force. In such cases, we say: “There is power, there is no need for intelligence.”
And you and I know that the real strength lies in justice and truth, which is on our side. And if this is so, then it is difficult not to agree that it is strength and willingness to fight that underlie independence and sovereignty, are the necessary foundation on which alone one can reliably build one’s future, build one’s home, one’s family, one’s Homeland.
Dear compatriots!
I am sure that the soldiers and officers of the Russian Armed Forces who are devoted to their country will professionally and courageously fulfill their duty. I have no doubt that all levels of government, specialists responsible for the sustainability of our economy, financial system, social sphere, heads of our companies and the entire Russian business will act smoothly and effectively. I count on the consolidated, patriotic position of all parliamentary parties and public forces.
Ultimately, as it has always been in history, the fate of Russia is in the safe hands of our multinational people. This means that the decisions taken will be implemented, the goals set will be achieved, and the security of our Homeland is reliably guaranteed.
I believe in your support, in the invincible strength that our love for the Fatherland gives us.
