kremlin.ru | I have pointed out many times and have written in my articles that
the goal of our strategic adversaries is to weaken and divide our
nation. This has
been so for centuries, and there is nothing new in this now. They
believe that
our country is too large and poses a threat, which is why it must be
diminished
and divided. Wherever you look, this has been their goal over the past
centuries. I will not provide any examples now; you can find them
in the relevant materials. They have always nurtured this idea and such
plans, hoping
that they will be able to implement them, one way or another.
For our
part, we have aways or nearly always pursued a completely
different approach and had different goals: we have always wanted to be
part of the so-called civilised world. After the Soviet Union’s
dissolution, which we
ourselves allowed to take place, we thought for some reason that we
would
become part of that so-called civilised world any day. But it turned out
that
nobody wanted this to happen, despite our efforts and attempts, and this
concerns my efforts as well, because I made these attempts too. We tried
to become
closer, to become part of that world. But to no avail.
On the contrary,
they undertook, including with the use of international
terrorists in the Caucasus, to finish off Russia and to split
the Russian
Federation. There is no need to prove this to many of you in this room,
because
you know what took place in the mid-1990s and the early 2000s. They
claimed to condemn al-Qaeda and other criminals, yet they considered
using them on the territory of Russia as acceptable and provided all
kinds of assistance to them,
including material, information, political and any other support,
notably
military support, to encourage them to continue fighting against Russia.
We
overcame that complicated period in our history thanks to the people
of the Caucasus, thanks to the Chechen people, and thanks to the heroism
of our
military personnel. We have survived those trials, growing stronger
in the process.
It
took off from there, as the saying goes. Not
to offend anyone, but I will still say that our geopolitical rivals
started
using every opportunity they had to pursue their agenda. They started
brainwashing people across the post-Soviet space, primarily in Ukraine.
And they have been quite successful at that and well prepared, since
back in the Soviet era they had entire institutions working on these
matters.
After the 2014 government coup in Ukraine – let
me emphasise that we spent decades trying to improve our relations in the new
geopolitical environment – we did everything to build not only neighbourly, but
brotherly relations: we granted them loans and supplied them with energy
resources for next to nothing. This lasted for years. No, nothing worked. I mean nothing.
Let
me remind you that when the Soviet Union
was breaking apart, Ukraine withdrew from the union. In its Declaration
of Independence, and I think – I am actually certain that back then
the Russian
leadership took this into consideration – Ukraine wrote that it is
a neutral
state. For this reason, we can understand why the Russian leaders
at the time
did not see these threats. They viewed Ukraine as a neutral state,
a brotherly
nation sharing a single culture with us, as well as having common
spiritual and moral values, and a shared past. They did not see any
threats. However, our
adversaries persisted in their efforts, and we must recognise that they
have
been quite effective.
We
pinned our hopes, it seems, on our efforts
to improve these relations, but they proved ineffective and failed
to reach the desired objective. Let me emphasise that we have nothing
to blame ourselves
for. I say this with full responsibility.
You know my position on this matter: we have
always treated the people of Ukraine as a brotherly nation. I still think this
way. What is currently happening is, of course, a tragedy. It is our common
tragedy. But it does not result from our policy. On the contrary, it results
from the policies carried out by other countries, by third countries, which
have always wished to split the Russian world apart.
They succeeded, to a certain extent, and pushed
us to the brink we are at now.
So,
after the 2014 coup – I am not going to talk about the reasons behind
this coup and will only say that it was unacceptable. As you may
remember, in February 2014, three foreign ministers from Poland, France
and Germany arrived
in Kiev and put their signatures as guarantors of an agreement between
the opposition and the incumbent government. The coup took place several
days
later. Everyone forgot about these guarantees, as if they had never
existed.
What should have been done instead? All they had to do was say,
“Friends, we
are the guarantors and major European countries, so please go back
to the negotiating table, go to the polls and resolve the power issue
using political
procedures.” That is all they had to do.
Everyone
realised perfectly well that, for better or for worse, the then
government would have certainly lost the elections, especially since
the then
president agreed to almost all the opposition’s demands, including early
elections. And when I ask our so-called colleagues why they allowed
the coup to happen, they have no answer to that. They just shrug their
shoulders and say it
just happened. Good grief. It just happened? That way they let us know
that no
pro-Russian forces, and all politicians, journalists, or public figures
who were
even slightly in favour of developing relations with Russia were simply
killed
in the street, and no one thought about investigating anything. It
became clear
that we would not be given any chance, simply no chance whatsoever
to restore
relations with this portion of our former common country. No way.
In fact, they
used terror in a shameless and brazen manner.
The brainwashing of the citizens of Ukraine and the neo-Nazi and extremely
nationalistic ideology that went on for decades did their job, one way or another.
What
is it all about? Hitler's acolytes were elevated to the rank
of national heroes, and no one seemed to care. Indeed, they are
nationalists, but there
are nationalists in any country, and we have them as well. But we are
fighting
manifestations of neo-Nazism and fascism; we are not elevating it
to the rank
of national policy. While in Ukraine they do and everyone pretends not
to notice it. Nationalism does not seem to be a bad thing since it is
about fighting
for national interests, but the fact that this is done on the basis
of a Nazi,
neo-Nazi ideology is simply ignored. They walk around wearing swastikas
in central parts of major cities, including the capital city, and they
make it
look as if it were nothing unusual. Why? Because it is the same approach
they
used in the 1990s and the early 2000s with the international terrorists
fighting
Russia. Pardon me, but they did not give a damn that those were
terrorists,
recognised international terrorists. They did not care, because they
used them
to fight Russia. It is the same now: neo-Nazis are used to fight against
Russia.
No one cares about the fact that they are neo-Nazis. What matters
to them is
that they are fighting Russia. But we do care.
It
became clear back then that a clash with these forces, including
in Ukraine, was inevitable, the only question was when. Military
operations and hostilities always come with tragedy and loss of life. We
are aware of this.
But since it is inevitable, better do it today than tomorrow. I think
that everyone
in this audience understands perfectly well what I am talking about,
including the state of our Armed Forces and the availability of advanced
types of weapons and other equipment that we have but other countries
do not. All of the above gives
us a certain margin of safety.
We know our advantages: the nuclear
triad, the Aerospace Forces, the Navy in certain segments, and so on. We know this,
we have it all, and all of it is in the right state. We also see what we need
to do to improve the Armed Forces, including the Ground Forces, our counter-artillery
warfare, communications systems, and so on. Everyone in this room understands
what I am talking about, and I am sure you agree with me.
There
is something I want to emphasise. We in Russia (there are very few such
countries in the world, and certainly not our neighbours, who will be
left with nothing soon except for foreign handouts such as money,
weapons, ammunition, only handouts – things are
completely different in Russia), we have everything. I want to emphasise
this: we
have every single thing, we have the resources to build up this
potential, and we will certainly do this without cutting any slack.
Moreover, unlike many
other countries, as I said, we will rely on our own (I want to emphasise
this) our
own scientific, technological, production and personnel resources.
Moreover, we
will attain our goals without detriment to economic growth or social
development,
while unfailingly fulfilling our social obligations to our citizens. All
the plans outlined here, all our long-term goals will be achieved,
and all plans
will be carried out.
We
will not repeat the mistakes of the past, when we harmed our economy
to boost our defence capabilities, regardless
of whether it was warranted or not. We are not going to militarise our
country or militarise the economy, primarily because we have no need
to do it at the current
level of development and with the structure of the economy that we have.
Again – we do not intend to, and we will not do things we do not really
need, to the detriment of our people and the economy, the social
sphere.
We will improve the Russian Armed
Forces and the entire military component. We will do it calmly, routinely and consistently,
without haste. We will attain our objectives to strengthen our defence
capability in general as well as meeting the goals of the special military
operation.
