Following the official ceremony in the St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, Vladimir Putin had an informal meeting with graduates of military academies.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Once again, congratulations on your graduation. All the very best to you. Take care of yourselves, take care of your country, and look after the people entrusted to you.
Remark: <…> NATO countries have allowed for launching drones from their territory at our facilities. Do they even realise the consequences?
Vladimir Putin: Apparently not – though there is growing unease within their societies, and those forces that do not want confrontation, that publicly call for building relations with our country, are gaining ground.
Look at what is happening in Germany. All the political forces that advocate aggression against Russia, that push for escalation and armed conflict – their ratings are plummeting. Every party that champions that path is seeing its support steadily decline.
Conversely, those who want to restore normal relations with us, to stop this endless drive for a strategic defeat of Russia, are on the rise. All those who want normal relations with us. I think it will happen; it will eventually work out.
They have not yet gone so far as to launch anything from their own territory; they understand that would invite a retaliatory strike. I think everyone realises that – or ought to – and so they are doing everything they can to keep their distance. When Ukrainian drones go astray into the Baltic states, for example, they do not point the finger at Moscow. They admit they are Ukrainian: a mistake, a system glitch, diverted by electronic warfare, something along those lines. They have not crossed that line yet, though they do host defence production facilities. And of course, weapons are still flowing into the combat zone in vast quantities.
By the way, you are an experienced man, Colonel, far more experienced than these very young lieutenants, and you certainly know that they always point the finger at us while they keep doing that.
If you noticed, it was no coincidence that I made a small remark. Did you notice? When I turned the page? Because just before I came here, practically in this very hall, I had finished writing these notes. We have always, at virtually every stage, been provoked, provoked, and provoked. As soon as we began defending our interests, the response was: “Look, Russia is being aggressive.” And then they immediately proceeded with everything they had originally planned.
I would also ask that this story, this account, be made available to the media.
Before World War II, the Soviet Union did everything possible to prevent the conflict. It proposed an alliance to all the European powers against the aggressive Nazi regime in Germany. But these proposals were rejected, and those same countries began signing agreements with Hitler themselves.
Who signed the agreement in 1938? Those same Western countries: France and Great Britain. The British Prime Minister returned to London, stepped off the airplane waving the agreement and shouting, “I have brought you peace.” Though, to be fair, there were sensible people in Great Britain who said, “Now war is inevitable.” And that is exactly what happened.
After that, they turned against the Soviet Union, and at the same time Nazi Germany began accusing the Soviet Union of allegedly preparing an attack and planning aggression. It was nonsense. Yet these accusations continued, and unfortunately, they continue to this day.
I have spoken about this many times, and you understand it well. A coup d’etat was staged in Ukraine, bringing to power a frenzied anti-Russia regime. Then military operations began: first they began fighting in Donbass, using aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other weapons against what was essentially a civilian population.
For eight years we’ve been patient, trying to reach agreements with them time and time again. Then, they openly stated that they would not seek a peaceful settlement and would not implement the Minsk agreements. We were forced to stand up for the people living there – people who consider themselves Russians, who consider themselves part of the Russian world, for whom Russian is their native language, and who feel themselves to be part of this shared history. All of this ultimately led us to do what we did.
And now, those who have come from the front know perfectly well that our soldiers are pressing forward, advancing along the entire line of contact. Everywhere. There is not a single area where the opposite is true. These drone attacks, these strikes on civilian infrastructure – what is the purpose? The purpose is to destabilise society. With the entire West working on their side, with a massive flow of drones being supplied, the objective is to create uncertainty regarding the actions of the Russian Armed Forces. Meanwhile, they ignore what is actually happening on the frontline. Our troops are advancing every single day.
And we will reach the point we have set for ourselves
Remark: We will help.
Vladimir Putin: I have no doubt about that. None at all.
Remark: What about the letter comrade Zelensky sent you back then – the one you called “that piece of paper” at the St Petersburg Economic Forum – does that not create any prerequisites for negotiations?
Vladimir Putin: No, such overtures do not create any prerequisites. If anything, they create conflict potential. So he sent me that piece of paper. They keep saying, “We want personal meetings, we want a face-to-face meeting.” So what? Three days later, a strike on Starobelsk. What was that about? Is it their idea of prerequisites for personal meetings and negotiations?
And then – you probably know this, but if you do not, I will tell you – their understanding of the line of contact is still very different. Our troops are now practically taking the last parts of Konstantinovka. Well, there are still some people hiding in basements, shooting back. They call it a grey zone. Wonderful. A grey zone.
We told them back in 2022: leave Donbass. People do not want to live with you. They held a referendum, they declared their own sovereign state – in full accordance with the UN Charter. Article 1 of the UN Charter states: “All peoples have the right of self-determination.” The people living in Donbass, in the Donetsk Republic, in the Lugansk Republic, exercised that right granted to them by international law, by the UN Charter, and declared independence. They had every right to do so.
And after that, did they have the right to conclude a treaty with us? Yes. And they did. Our parliament ratified it, and we were under the obligation to help them. We did. There are no violations whatsoever – it is just that no one wants to notice. Do you see? No one.
No one notices what is in our country’s interests – because no one needs it except you and me. But we do.
Remark: Yes sir!
Vladimir Putin: Thank you, guys. All the best.