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Growing risk of nuclear war

This risk of a nuclear war is increasing. “Why deny it?” Putin said.

However, Russia is “not going to brandish these weapons like a razor” and considers them a means of defence and a natural deterrent.

“We are sane and aware of what the nuclear weapons are about,” Putin said.

Russia’s strategy is built around the so-called retaliatory counter strike, “meaning when a strike is being inflicted on us, we inflict one in response,” Putin said.

Moreover, Moscow has more advanced and more bleeding-edge strategic forces than any other nuclear country.

Western human rights activists and national interests

Western “human rights organisations” were created as a tool of influence on the domestic policies of Russia and other post-Soviet countries, and this can be seen in their attitude to the residents of Donbass.

“Not only do they consider these people as second-rate people, but they also view Russia as a second-rate country that simply has no right to exist,” Putin said. “On our part, there can be only one answer: systematic struggle for our national interests. We will continue to act this way,” he said.

“First of all, of course, we will focus on peaceful means. But, if there is nothing else left, we will defend ourselves with all resources at our disposal.”

Putin particularly emphasised that the people of Donbass were noticed only following the onset of the special military operation.

“The UN Human Rights Council, the Council of Europe, other so-called human rights organisations have suddenly ‘seen the light’ and shamelessly began to display their cynical bias, I would say, playing the blame game, as we say. All of this meant that these structures are incapable of fulfilling their statutory goals,” he added, stressing that Russia had to renounce its membership in some of these organisations due to their obvious bias.

 

‘Cancel’ Russian culture

The attempts to cancel Russian culture are unwise.

“To tell the truth, I do not even know if we should counter this somehow,” he said.

“Those who do this are evidently the enemies of our country, they harm themselves with their own actions, and is it necessary to prevent this damage they are doing to themselves?”

Tangible results of military operation

The special military operation is a long process, but it has already yielded “significant results.”

“New territories have appeared,” he said. “Take the Sea of Azov, which has become Russia’s inland sea. That is very serious.”

However, the key result is that millions of people from those new regions brought their intention to live in Russia into life. “This is the most important thing,” Putin stressed.

“The results of the referendum showed that the people want to be in Russia and consider themselves part of this world, part of this space, and our common culture, traditions, and language. This is the most important result. Now they are with us. There millions of such people. This is the most important thing,” Putin stressed.

No need for additional military call-up

Out of the 300,000 mobilised soldiers, 150,000 are deployed to the area of the special military operation, and 50 percent of them are deployed to combat units, while the rest remain “in the second, third lines” or are undergoing additional training.

Therefore, “talking about any additional mobilisation measures makes no sense, since there is no need in them for the state and the Defence Ministry at present,” Putin said.

No problem with desertion

There is no problem with mass desertion of the troops in the area of the special military operation.

“Yes, this has happened. There are fewer and fewer of such people now,” Putin said.

The overwhelming majority of those who have succumbed to the panic are coming back voluntarily.

Having found themselves in an active combat zone, even after special training, people cannot but experience certain emotions, but after adapting, “guys fight brilliantly.” Unlike Ukraine, Russia does not execute those who abandon their combat positions.

“We have nothing of the kind, we do not have any such camps, zones, and so on. This is all nonsense, these are falsehoods that have no basis to rely on,” he added.

 

Investigating Kiev’s crimes

Russia may establish a certain “general agency” and a government commission that will be in charge of recording and investigating the crimes committed by the Ukrainian authorities, “especially strikes at civilian and residential neighbourhoods.”

Law enforcement veterans can provide their help “either as mentors or as people who summarise the materials at hand.” “The war was not started, and you know this much better than anyone else, by us, but [it was unleashed] in 2014 after the coup in Ukraine,” he told Kirill Vyshinsky, chairman of the Council’s standing commission on international cooperation in human rights.

“It was unleashed by the then Ukrainian authorities, who came to the corridors of power through that coup d’etat, to suppress the will of people living in Donbass,” he added.

“When, back in 2014, three foreign ministers — from Poland, Germany and France — came to Kiev and put their signatures on the document between the then incumbent authorities and the opposition, they signed it as the guarantors of a peaceful scenario,” Putin recalled.

“After the coup d’etat was carried out, those guarantors forgot that they were the guarantors. As guarantors, they should have returned everything to the rule of law and have urged everyone to hold general elections to find a peaceful solution to that internal political crisis.

“No, nothing has been done as if everyone has forgotten about that document. Now when I remind my counterparts, even in our telephone conversations, about it, everyone stays silent, because there is nothing to answer.”

 

Ukraine’s future

The war in Ukraine was started by those who seized power in that country after the coup d’etat in 2014. Throughout the past years, the West has been ignoring the legitimate interests of residents of Donbass and Russia’s efforts to protect them.

“In response to all our demands, we have seen only spits in our faces. It is a latent form of Russophobia,” he said. Polish nationalists cannot wait to seize western Ukrainian regions, “and they will seek to do so.”

The only real guarantor of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its current borders could be Russia alone.

 

Reconstruction of Donbass

A separate programme will be adopted to rebuild residential buildings in Donbass. Construction in Mariupol, where Russian builders are already working, “is progressing at a rapid pace.”

The damage caused by Kiev to Donbass is already estimated at more than 1.3 trillion rubbles, and the final figure will be even higher. Ukraine’s compensations for the damage “will definitely not be excessive at all.”