Dear fellow citizens, dear friends! Today I again consider it necessary to come back to the tragic events in Donbass and the key issues of Russia's security. I would like to start with what I said in my speech on February 21 this year. I am referring to what particularly worries and worries us, the fundamental threats that are being directed against our country step by step, year by year, by irresponsible politicians in the West. I am referring to the eastward extension of the NATO bloc, to the proximity of its military infrastructure to Russia's borders. It is known that for 30 years we have been persistently and patiently trying to reach an agreement with the leading NATO countries on the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. Time and time again, we have met either cynical deceit and lies or pressure and blackmail in response to our proposals as the North Atlantic Alliance expands, despite our protests and concerns. The war machine is on the move and, I repeat, is coming very close to our borders. Why is all this happening? Why this arrogant attitude of speaking from the position of your own exclusivity, infallibility and being free to do anything? Where does this callous, dismissive attitude towards our interests and perfectly legitimate demands come from? The answer is clear, understandable and obvious. The Soviet Union weakened in the late 1980s and then collapsed. The whole course of events at that time is a good lesson for us today; this has shown convincingly that paralysis of government and will is the first step to utter humiliation. All we had to do was lose our confidence for a while and the balance of power in the world was upset. As a result, earlier treaties and agreements are de facto no longer valid. Persuasion and pleading didn't help. Everything that doesn't suit the hegemon, the rulers, is declared archaic, outdated and superfluous. And vice versa: Everything that seems advantageous to them is presented as the ultimate truth and enforced at any price, rudely and by any means. Dissenters are brought to their knees. I'm not just talking about Russia now, and not just about our concerns. This affects the entire system of international relations, and sometimes even the US allies themselves. After the collapse of the USSR, a real redistribution of the world began and the established norms of international law - the main, fundamental norms were adopted and consolidated at the end of World War II largely its results — began to hamper those who declared themselves victors in the Cold War. In practical life, in international relations, in the rules governing these relations, the changes in the world situation and the balance of power themselves naturally had to be taken into account. However, this should have been done professionally, smoothly and patiently, taking into account and respecting the interests of all countries and being aware of their responsibilities. But no, it was a state of euphoria from absolute superiority, a kind of modern absolutism, all the more against the background of the low level of general culture and the arrogance of those who prepared, accepted and implemented decisions advantageous only to themselves. The situation began to develop in a different way. One need not go far to find examples. First, the bloody military operation against Belgrade was carried out without the approval of the UN Security Council. Bombing of civilian cities and vital infrastructure for several weeks. I have to remind you of these facts, because some Western colleagues do not like to remember these events, and when we talk about them, they prefer not to refer to the norms of international law, but to the circumstances, which they interpret as they see fit . Then it was Iraq, Libya and Syria's turn. The unlawful use of military force against Libya and the circumvention of all UN Security Council decisions on the Libyan issue led to the total destruction of the state, created a huge hotbed of international terrorism and plunged the country into a humanitarian catastrophe and a long civil war that is still raging. The tragedy, which killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people not only in Libya but throughout the region, led to a mass exodus from North Africa and the Middle East to Europe. A similar fate was foreseen for Syria. The military action of the Western coalition on the territory of this country without the consent of the Syrian government and without the permission of the UN Security Council is nothing more than aggression, an intervention. However, the invasion of Iraq occupies a special place in this series, which of course also took place without any legal basis. The pretext was that the US allegedly had reliable information about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. To prove it, the US Secretary of State shook a vial of white powder in front of the world and affirmed that it was the chemical weapon being developed in Iraq. And then it turned out to be a hoax, a bluff: there were no chemical weapons in Iraq. this is unbelievable, amazing, but it remains a fact. There have been lies at the highest levels of government and from the high tribune of the UN. The result was mass casualties, destruction, and the incredible wave of terrorism. In general, the impression is created that practically everywhere, in many regions of the world, where the West comes to establish its order, bloody, non-healing wounds, wounds of international terrorism and extremism, remain. All I have said are the most egregious, but far from the only, examples of disregard for international law. This also includes our country's promises not to expand NATO one inch to the east. I repeat: they betrayed us, or, as the saying goes, simply dumped us. Yes, one often hears that politics is a dirty business. It may be so, but not as dirty, but not to this extent. After all, such fraudulent behavior violates not only the principles of international relations, but most importantly - the generally accepted norms of morals and ethics. Where is justice and truth here? Nothing but lies and hypocrisy. Incidentally, American politicians, political scientists and journalists themselves write and say that a veritable “empire of lies” has emerged in the USA in recent years. It's hard not to agree - it is. But there's no reason to be humble: the US is still a big country, a system-building power. His satellites not only submit humbly and obediently, singing along at every opportunity, but also copy the behavior and enthusiastically accept the rules they set. It is safe to say, with good reason, that the entire so-called western bloc, which the US has molded in its own image and likeness, is a "empire of lies" as well. As for our country, after the collapse of the USSR, despite the unprecedented openness of the new, modern Russia and its readiness for honest cooperation with the United States and other Western partners, and in the conditions of actually unilateral disarmament, they immediately tried to fall on us to finish us off and finally destroy us. This is exactly what happened in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the so-called collective West actively supported separatism and mercenary gangs in southern Russia. What sacrifices and losses did that cost us, what sacrifices did we have to make before we finally put a stop to international terrorism in the Caucasus. We remember it and will never forget it. In fact, the attempts to use us for their interests, to destroy our traditional values ​​and to impose on us their pseudo-values ​​that would destroy us, our people, from within, have not stopped those attitudes that they are already aggressive in their countries prevail and which lead directly to degradation and degeneration, since they are directed against human nature itself. That's not going to happen, nobody's ever done that before. It won't work now either. Despite everything, in December 2021 we tried again to reach an agreement with the US and its allies on security principles in Europe and on the non-enlargement of NATO. All for free. The US position has not changed. They do not consider it necessary to reach an agreement with Russia on this issue, which is important to us, they are pursuing their own goals and disregarding our interests. And, of course, in this situation the question arises: what to do next, what to expect? We know from history that in 1940 and early 1941 the Soviet Union did everything possible to prevent or at least delay the outbreak of war. This includes literally trying to the last minute not to provoke the potential attacker by not taking or delaying the most necessary and obvious steps to prepare for averting the inevitable attack. And the steps that were eventually taken were disastrously delayed. As a result, the country was not fully prepared for the invasion of Nazi Germany, which attacked our country on June 22, 1941 without a declaration of war. The enemy could be stopped and then destroyed, but at a colossal cost. Trying to please the aggressor on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was a mistake that cost our people dearly. In the first months of fighting we lost large, strategically important areas and millions of people. We will not make such a mistake a second time, we have no right to do so. Those who seek world domination openly declare us, Russia, with impunity and, I stress, without any justification, their enemy. Indeed, today they have great financial, scientific, technological and military capabilities. We are aware of this and objectively evaluate the threats that are constantly being thrown at us in the field of business, as well as our ability to resist this outrageous and constant blackmail. I repeat, we evaluate them without illusions, very realistically. In the military sphere, modern Russia, even after the collapse of the USSR and the loss of much of its potential, is now one of the most powerful nuclear powers in the world and also has certain advantages in a number of the most modern weapon systems. There should therefore be no doubt that a direct attack on our country would result in defeat and dire consequences for any would-be attacker. However, technology, including defense technology, is subject to rapid change. The leadership in this area has changed and will change in the future, but the military development of the areas adjacent to our borders, if we allow it, will remain for decades, maybe forever, and will be an ever-growing, completely unacceptable threat to Russia represent. Already, as NATO expands eastwards, the situation for our country is getting worse and more dangerous every year. Moreover, in recent days the NATO leadership has explicitly spoken of the need to accelerate and force the advance of the Alliance's infrastructure towards the Russian borders. In other words, they tighten their stance. We can no longer just watch what happens. That would be completely irresponsible of us. The further expansion of the infrastructure of the North Atlantic Alliance, the military development of Ukrainian territory that has begun is unacceptable to us. The problem, of course, is not with the NATO organization itself - it is just an instrument of American foreign policy. The problem is that in the areas adjacent to us - mind you, on our own historical territories - an "anti-Russia" is being created, which is placed under complete foreign control, intensively developed by the armed forces of NATO countries and with the most modern weapons is pumped full. For the US and its allies, the so-called policy of containing Russia is an obvious geopolitical dividend. For our country, however, it is ultimately a matter of life and death, a matter of our historic future as a nation. And that's no exaggeration - that's the way it is. This is a real threat not only to our interests, but to the very existence of our state and its sovereignty. This is the red line that has been talked about over and over again. You have exceeded them. In this regard and in relation to the situation in Donbass. We see that the forces that carried out the 2014 coup in Ukraine, who seized power and retained it with the help of essentially decorative electoral procedures, are definitely opposed to a peaceful solution to the conflict. For eight years, endless eight years, we have done everything to resolve the situation through peaceful, political means. All for free. As I said in my previous talk, what is happening there cannot be viewed without compassion. It was just impossible to take it any longer. It was necessary to end this nightmare immediately – this genocide of the millions of people who live there and only hope in Russia, who only hope in us. These aspirations, people's feelings and pain were the main reason for our decision to recognize the People's Republics of Donbass. I think it's important to emphasize that again. The leading NATO countries, in order to achieve their own goals, support extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine, who in turn will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for their free choice to reunite with Russia. Of course, they will go to the Crimea, just like to the Donbass, with a war to kill, just as the punitive columns of the Ukrainian nationalists and Hitler's collaborators killed defenseless people during the Great Patriotic War. They also openly lay claim to a number of other Russian territories. The entire course of events and the analysis of incoming information shows that a clash between Russia and these forces is inevitable. It's just a matter of time: they prepare, they wait for an opportune moment. Now they want nuclear weapons too. We won't allow that. As I said before, Russia has accepted the new geopolitical realities after the collapse of the USSR. We respect all emerging countries in the post-Soviet space and will continue to do so. We respect their sovereignty and will continue to respect them. An example of this is the assistance we provided to Kazakhstan, which has experienced tragic events and attacks on its statehood and integrity. But Russia cannot feel safe, cannot develop, cannot exist if there is a constant threat coming from the territory of present-day Ukraine. I would like to remind you that in 2000-2005 we fought militarily against terrorists in the Caucasus, defended the integrity of our state and preserved Russia. In 2014 we supported the people of Crimea and Sevastopol. In 2015, we used our armed forces to reliably stop terrorists entering Russia from Syria. We had no other way to defend ourselves. The same is happening now too. You and I simply have no other way of defending Russia and our people than what we must use today. Circumstances require us to act decisively and immediately. People's republics of Donbass have asked Russia for help. In this regard, in accordance with paragraph 7 of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, with the approval of the Russian Federation Council and in accordance with the Treaties of Friendship and Mutual Assistance ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22 this year, I have signed with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic decided to conduct a military operation. Their goal is to protect the people who have been mistreated and murdered by the Kiev regime for eight years. And to that end, we will strive to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine and bring to justice those who have committed numerous bloody crimes against the civilian population, including citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, our plans do not provide for the occupation of Ukrainian lands. We have no intention of imposing anything by force on anyone. At the same time, we are hearing a growing number of voices in the West of late that the documents signed by the Soviet totalitarian regime, laying down the results of World War II, should no longer be implemented. How to answer that? The outcome of World War II is sacred, as are the sacrifices our people made on the altar of victory over Nazism. However, this does not contradict the high values of human rights and freedoms that are based on the realities of the post-war decades. This does not invalidate the right of nations to self-determination enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter. I would like to remind you that neither when the USSR was founded nor after the Second World War did anyone ask the people of the territories that make up today's Ukraine how they want to live their lives. Our policy is based on freedom, the freedom of choice for everyone to determine their own future and that of their children. And we believe that this right – the right to choose – is important for all peoples living on the territory of today's Ukraine, for everyone who wants to exercise this right. In this regard, I also appeal to the citizens of Ukraine. In 2014, Russia had a duty to protect the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol from those they call “Nazis.” The people of Crimea and Sevastopol have chosen their historic homeland, Russia, and we have supported them in that. Here, too, we simply could not act otherwise. Today's events are not about hurting the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It is about protecting Russia itself from those who have taken Ukraine hostage and are trying to use them against our country and its people. Again, this is self-defense against the threats we face and against an even greater calamity than what is happening today. As difficult as it is, I ask you to understand this and I call for cooperation so that we can turn this tragic page as quickly as possible and move forward together, not allowing anyone to interfere in our affairs, in our relationships , but to build it independently, so that the necessary conditions are created for overcoming all problems and we are strengthened from within as a united entity, despite the state borders. That's what I believe in - that's our future. I must also address the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Dear comrades! Your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight against the Nazis and defended our common fatherland so that today's neo-Nazis could take power in Ukraine. You swore an oath to the Ukrainian people and not to the anti-people junta that is robbing and harassing Ukraine. Don't carry out their criminal orders. I urge you to lay down your arms immediately and go home. To be clear: all members of the Ukrainian army who comply with this requirement will be able to leave the war zone unhindered and return to their families. I would like to emphasize once again that the responsibility for possible bloodshed rests solely on the conscience of the regime ruling the territory of Ukraine. Now a few important, very important words to those who might be tempted from outside to interfere in what is happening. Whoever tries to interfere with us, let alone endanger our country and our people, must know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead to consequences that you have never seen in your history. We are prepared for any development of events. All necessary decisions have been made in this regard. I hope to be heard. Dear fellow citizens of Russia! The well-being, the existence of entire states and peoples, their success and viability always have their origin in the powerful roots of their cultures and values, in the experiences and traditions of their ancestors, and of course they depend on their ability to adapt quickly to what is constantly changing to adapt to changing lives, from the cohesion of society, its willingness to consolidate, to join forces to move forward. Strength is always needed - always - but strength can have different qualities. The policy of the "empire of lies" I spoke of at the beginning of my speech is based above all on brute force. In such cases we say: "You have strength, you do not need intelligence". And we know that true strength lies in the justice and truth that is on our side. And if that is so, then it is hard not to agree that strength and combativity are the foundation of independence and sovereignty, the necessary foundation on which alone we can build our future, our homes, our families and our homeland. Dear fellow citizens! I am sure that the soldiers and officers of the Russian Armed Forces who are loyal to their country will perform their duty professionally and courageously. I have no doubt that all levels of power and the professionals responsible for the stability of our economy, financial system and social environment, as well as the heads of our companies and the entire Russian economy will work together harmoniously and efficiently. I am counting on the consolidated, patriotic attitude of all parliamentary parties and public forces. After all, as always throughout history, the fate of Russia rests in the capable hands of our multi-ethnic people. This means that the decisions we have made will be implemented, our goals will be achieved and the security of our fatherland will be reliably guaranteed. I believe in your support and in the invincible strength that love for our motherland gives us.