© Kremlin.ru
–
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on Tuesday before the Extended Meeting of the Collegium of the Ministry of Defense at a time when relations with the United States and Europe are at their lowest point since the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago. The Kremlin wants guarantees of Russia’s security with initial demands, which were perceived more as a provocation – because of its nature (NATO to stop its expansion, not to have military and weapons in Russia’s neighbors, etc.) and because of that that there is still no agreement on the other side to negotiate.
This year’s Collegium is attended by the Command of the Armed Forces, representatives of state authorities and public organizations, and for the first time representatives of the Command of the individual military districts, fleets and flotillas, units and military units, cadets and students in the Ministry’s universities were invited. of defense.
This is an annual forum for discussing the results of the last 12 months and setting tasks for the future.
© Kremlin.ru
–
Here are excerpts from his speech:
There is serious concern about the increase in US and NATO military forces next to Russia’s borders, as well as large-scale exercises, including outside the plan.
We are extremely concerned that elements of the US global anti-missile system are being deployed near Russia. The Mk 41 systems, located in Romania and planned for deployment in Poland, are adapted for the use of Tomahawk attack systems. If this infrastructure is moved further, if US and NATO missile systems appear in Ukraine, their flight to Moscow will be shortened to 7-10 minutes, and if hypersonic weapons are deployed – to 5. This is the most serious challenge. to our security.
We need long-term legally binding guarantees. We know you well – and this should not be believed, no legal guarantees, because the United States easily leaves all international treaties that for one reason or another are not interesting to them, explaining something there or no explanation at all, as happened with The Missile Defense Treaty, the Open Skies Treaty – “no”, and that’s it.
But at least something, there should be some legally binding agreements, not verbal assurances. We are well aware of the cost of such verbal promises. We can go back to recent history, to the events of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when we were told that your worries about possible NATO enlargement to the east were kind of unfounded. And five waves of NATO expansion to the east followed. And don’t you remember how it happened? When there were cloudless relations between Russia and the United States, Russia and all major NATO countries, almost allied.
I have said it publicly – American specialists were constantly visiting the sites of the nuclear weapons complex of the Russian Federation. They went to work every day, there were US flags on the desks. And what more? What else do you need? There were American advisers in the Russian government, and CIA staff advised us. What else? Why did they have to support separatism in the North Caucasus, with the help of Islamic State – well, it was not Islamic State, other terrorist organizations were? Apparently they supported terrorists. Why? Why did NATO have to expand, to withdraw from missile defense treaties?
What is happening now, the tensions in Europe, are their fault. At every step Russia was forced to respond somehow, at every step the situation was getting worse, getting worse, getting worse – degrading and degrading. And today we are in a situation where we are forced to decide something: we cannot allow the situation I am talking about to develop. What, isn’t something clear to someone? He must be clear.
© Kremlin.ru
–
Sometimes one wonders: And why did they do all this under these conditions? It is incomprehensible. And I think it is because of the euphoria of victory in the so-called cold war or the so-called victory in the Cold War, due to incorrect, incorrect assessment of the situation at this time, illiterate, incorrect analysis of possible options for the development of the situation. There are simply no other reasons.
I will emphasize once again: we do not want any special, exclusive conditions for ourselves. Russia declares itself to be an equal and indivisible security of the entire Eurasian space.
Of course, as I said, if the clearly aggressive line of the Western colleagues continues, we will adopt adequate military-technical retaliatory measures, we will firmly react to hostile steps. And, I want to emphasize, we have every right to do so, to act on Russia’s security and sovereignty.
After all, you and I know very well how, on various occasions, including to ensure our own security, they operate thousands of kilometers from their own territory, thousands. And when they are prevented from doing so by international law and the UN Charter, they declare all this obsolete, unnecessary, and when it suits their interests, they immediately refer to the norms of international law, the UN Charter, humanitarian international law, etc. We are fed up with these manipulations.
© Kremlin.ru
–
We see that some of our ill-wishers are interpreting [руските предложения] as an ultimatum from Russia. Is this an ultimatum? Of course not.
I will remind you once again: everything that our partners – so to speak – in the United States did for their security thousands of kilometers from their national territory, they did without sanctions from the UN Security Council.
Under what pretext did they bomb Yugoslavia? With the sanction of the UN Security Council? Where is Yugoslavia, where is the United States? They destroyed the country. Yes, there is an internal conflict, their own problems, but who gave them the right to bomb the European capital? Nobody. They decided so, and their satellites ran from behind and barked in support. Here is all the international law.
© Kremlin.ru
–
They do what they want. But what they are doing now on the territory of Ukraine, or trying to do it, or planning to do it, is no longer thousands of kilometers from our border, but on the doorstep of our home. They need to understand that we have nowhere to go.
The United States does not yet have hypersonic weapons, but we know when they will appear. (…) They will deploy him in Ukraine, and then, under his cover, will arm and send to Russia extremists from a neighboring country, including certain parts of the Russian Federation, say Crimea, under favorable circumstances, as they believe. .
© Kremlin.ru
–
What do they think? That we do not see these threats? Or do they think that we will only observe the creation of threats to Russia? That’s the whole problem – we have nowhere to go – that’s the point.
Armed conflicts, bloodshed – this is absolutely not our choice, we do not want such a development. We want to resolve issues through political and diplomatic means, but at least to have clear, understandable and detailed legal guarantees. That is the point of our proposals sent to Brussels and Washington, and we hope to receive a clear and comprehensive response.
–
