The Full Transcript From Putin's Meeting with the War Correspondents in English

My commentary is in a separate article.

Here is the full transcript from Putin’s meeting with the selected, “optimist”, Kremlin-approved war correspondents. By first taking note of the names we can learn who is in favor, and the extent of what is allowed to be voiced and considered by Putin and the circle around him. This is the full list of the invited guests:

AGRANOVICH Ekaterina Alexandrovna - war correspondent of the telegram channel "Katrusya"

BORODKIN Anatoly Leonidovich - war correspondent of the TV channel "Zvezda"

GAZDIEV Murad Salihovich - military correspondent of TK Russia Today

DOLGOV Maxim Sergeevich - war correspondent for the online publication Readovka

ZENIN Sergey Sergeevich - war correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company

ZIMENKIN Dmitry Sergeevich - war correspondent of the Izvestia Information Center

KOTS Alexander Igorevich - war correspondent of JSC Publishing House "Komsomolskaya Pravda"

KUKSENKOVA (SOKIRKO) Irina Yulyevna - war correspondent of Channel One JSC

KULKO Dmitry Alexandrovich - war correspondent of JSC "Channel One"

LYADVIN Ilya Vladimirovich - war correspondent of NTV Television Company JSC

PEGOV Semyon Vladimirovich - war correspondent of the telegram channel WarGonzo

Poddubny Evgeny Evgenievich - war correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company

PODOLYAK Yury Ivanovich - military correspondent of the Telegram channel "Mir segodnya" with "Yuriy Podoliaka"

RUDENKO Andrey Vladimirovich - war correspondent of VGTRK

SLADKOV Alexander Valerievich - war correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company

STESHIN Dmitry Anatolyevich - war correspondent of JSC Publishing House "Komsomolskaya Pravda"

USHENIN Ilya Evgenievich - war correspondent of NTV Television Company JSC

FILATOV Andrey Vladimirovich - war correspondent of TV channel Russia Today

Now you also know whose opinions and commentary can be safely ignored. Kidding, kidding. But, not really.

The Q and A also reveals Putin’s attitudes and how much he knows about the reality at the front line. My analysis is in a separate article and I will return to this full transcript in future because it is a comprehensive mission statement and situation update. We don’t need to rely on previous statements anymore. I will be referencing this going forward. This transcript now supersedes what came before. The parts I found relevant are bolded.

From the official Kremlin website:

Yevgeny Poddubny:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, hello!

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us.

Vladimir Putin:  I am very glad to see you all.

E. Poddubny:  All our previous meetings took place in a truly trusting atmosphere, and our conversation was very sharp and frank, for which we thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin:  I have a feeling that you probably won’t be able to contrain yourselves: if the cameras are working, everyone will want to shine brightly in the spotlight, as usually happens when television cameras are working.

E. Poddubny:  No, we will control ourselves.

We very much hope that this conversation will also be honest and frank, and we all count on this.

Vladimir Putin:  From my side, yes, I promise.

E. Poddubny:  From ours, too.

Vladimir Putin:  Excellent, then it will be so.

E. Poddubny:  You have repeatedly said that in the course of a special military operation, all the goals that you personally set will be achieved. The special military operation has been going on for quite some time. The situation is changing, the situation is changing, and the goals and objectives of the special military operation are probably changing. Tell me how they have changed and have they changed?

Vladimir Putin:  No, they are changing in accordance with the current situation, but in general, of course, we will not change anything, and they are of a fundamental nature for us.

All of the very experienced people here, especially over the past year or so, like you, who have been under the hail bullets - their consciousness is changing, I know this for myself, although I, not like you, maybe, did not climb under bullet fire. But since then when he flew in a helicopter, tracer bullets were fired at him. You see, all this changes one’s consciousness. So what is the meaning of our actions? We'll have to take two steps back from the center of the field. After all, we were and still are determined to have the best relations with all our neighbors after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We are doing just that, we have come to terms with the fact that what happened happened, and we have to live with it going forward.

And you know, I have already said that this is not a secret, that we offered everything to our Western partners, as I called them always, we thought that we were part of them, bourgeois, and we want to be in this family of so-called civilized peoples. And I abandoned my fishing rods at NATO: let's consider this possibility - we are a click from there, they didn’t even consider it - and let's build a missile defense together.

We understand that the events of the 1990s and early 2000s are connected with the difficult historical legacy in the Caucasus, for example. So who are we fighting? Pretty much with al-Qaeda. And what did our so-called partners do? Supported [the terrorists] financially, informationally, politically and even in a military sense. They don't give a damn about the fact that this is Al-Qaeda, they just want to destabilize us. And everything is done under this paradigm - the [threat] of the buildup of Russia. We had already agreed that NATO will not expand. They offered everything! No. Why? It's just too big a country: such a country in Europe, in such a place, so big, with such potential, is not needed. And gradually everyone is trying to saw it apart.

Ukraine is one of the areas of work to build up against Russia. By and large, of course, this should have been kept in mind when decisions were made on the collapse of the Soviet Union. But then, apparently, they counted on the fact that our deep relations, they would be decisive. But due to a number of circumstances - historical, economic, political - the situation took a different path. And also in this area, they just didn’t do anything. For decades, in fact, if they didn’t feed, then they supported the economy – you know what to repeat, I have already written and talked about this – at the expense of cheap energy resources, this and that, loans and so on. But nothing helps. In the end, how did it end? Our supporters began to be killed on the streets simply, it came to a coup d'état.

Listen, this is not the first coup. And Yushchenko came to power how in Ukraine? What, as a result of legitimate actions? Show how he came to power? We do know. They came up with a third round of voting. What is the third round? It is not provided for by the Constitution - this is a coup d'état, but at least it took place in a relatively peaceful way. And we communicated with them: I went there, they came to us - please. No, we reached a bloody coup d'état. That is, it has become obvious that we are not given any chance to build normal relations with our neighbors and with the fraternal Ukrainian people. Well, simply none.

Then they took it - after the coup d'état, they understood that we couldn't just leave Crimea like that, well, we just couldn't, it was impossible, this would be a betrayal on our part - events immediately began in the southeast, in the Donbass. We didn't touch a finger at all. Yes, our volunteers were there, but the Russian state had nothing to do with it at all - I assure you of this, well, nothing. I speak quite frankly, directly and honestly: nothing at all, zero. Yes, there were people from Russia who tried to support the local population and so on.

In the end, of course, we were forced to stand up for these people, simply forced. Nine years! And we tried sincerely to agree that it was difficult, to agree on how to somehow “glue” the south-east of Ukraine with the whole country, but we sincerely strived for this. Now we know that our so-called partners simply swindled us, as people say: they simply scammed us. And they were not going to do anything, it turns out, and everything has come to the current situation.

Yes, and bastards like Bandera, are raised on a pedestal. They do not want communism - God bless him, but who wants something today. They are throwing the founder of Ukraine - Lenin - from their pedestals. Okay, that's their business. But they put Bandera in this place - he is a fascist. In general, I am surprised how a person who has Jewish blood in his veins, who heads the state of Ukraine, how he can support neo-Nazis. I just don't get it. When they simply destroyed, you understand, they destroyed the civilian Jewish population, this person was elevated to the rank of a national hero and others like him, and now they are walking around with these posters. So what is happening there, of course, will never suit us historically.

During the negotiation process, including in Istanbul, we constantly raised this issue. And they countered in turn: “But we don’t have anything neo-Nazi, what do you want from us?” Well, at least to introduce appropriate restrictions in the law. In general, by the way, we also agreed on this during that round of negotiations – before our troops withdrew from Kyiv, because after that they threw out all our agreements.

Demilitarization. We are gradually, methodically doing this. What is the APU fighting on? What do they, Leopard produce, or what, or Bradley, or even the F-16s that they have not yet entered service with? They don't produce any. The Ukrainian defense industry will soon cease to exist altogether. What do they produce? Ammunition is brought to them, equipment is brought in, guns are brought in - they bring everything. You won't live that long, you won't last. So the issue of demilitarization is, of course, very important in practical terms.

And the protection of people who are in the Donbass. Yes, unfortunately, while there are shellings, that's all. But in general, we will methodically move towards this, work on it, decide. And I'm sure we will solve this issue.

So, by and large, no fundamental changes have taken place today in terms of the goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the operation. No changes.

D. Kulko:  Hello, Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Dmitry Kulko, Channel One.

There is a counteroffensive of Ukraine. You commented on the situation on the fifth day, but now time has passed. You receive daily operational information and, as we see, not only from the command of the NWO, but also call directly to the front line.

V. Putin:  Yes.

Dmitry Kulko:  Is there anything else you can add to your assessments now?

Vladimir Putin:  Yes. This is a large-scale counteroffensive, using, as I said quite recently publicly, reserves prepared for these purposes. It starts on the 4th, started on the 4th. It continues to this day and right now.

I listened to the next report, what is happening now. On the Shakhtyorsky direction - since morning directly attack. Up to 100 personnel, four tanks, two armored vehicles [from Ukraine]. In the Vremevsky direction, there are also several tanks, several armored vehicles. Attack in several directions. Several tanks, several armored vehicles were destroyed, fire damage was inflicted on personnel, they did not reach the front line.

But in general, of course, this is a large-scale offensive: they started on the Vremevsky ledge, in the Mining direction and in Zaporozhye. It began precisely with the use of strategic reserves and continues right now: right now, when we have gathered here and discuss it, there is a battle going on in several directions.

What can be said? The enemy was not successful in any of the sectors. They have big losses. For us, of course, thank God. Now I will not name the losses by personnel - let the Ministry of Defense do it, consider it, but there the structure of losses is unfavorable for them. What I mean? Of all the losses - and they are approaching an assessment that can be called catastrophic in terms of personnel - their structure of these losses is unfavorable for them. Because losses, as we know today, can be sanitary, or they can be irretrievable. And usually, now I'm afraid to make a mistake, but somewhere there are irretrievable losses of 25 percent, maximum 30. They have almost 50 to 50. This is the first.

And the second. If we take irretrievable losses, it is clear that the defending side suffers fewer losses, but still this ratio is one to ten, as they say, in our favor: we have ten times less than the losses of the armed forces of Ukraine.

As for armored vehicles, it is even more serious. During this time they lost over 160 tanks and over 360 armored vehicles of various types. This is just what we see. There are also losses that we do not see, which are inflicted by long-range precision weapons on accumulations of personnel and equipment, so in fact these losses are more from Ukraine. According to my calculations, this is about 25, or maybe 30 percent of the volume of equipment that was supplied from abroad. It seems to me that if they consider it objectively, they will agree with it. But, as far as I have seen from open Western sources, it seems to me that this is what they say.

So the offensive is underway, and the results to date are the ones I just mentioned.

But our losses - in terms of other indicators, let the Ministry of Defense speak in terms of personnel - I said: they have over 160 tanks [lost], we have 54, some of them are subject to restoration and repair.

Dmitry Kulko:  Thank you.

E. Agranovich:  Good afternoon!

Agranovich Ekaterina, blogger.

I have a question about the Kakhovskaya HPP. A tragedy happened, the consequences - environmental, social - we all have yet to assess. But the question is: who do you think is guilty? Will they get punished? And third: what kind of help can people from the affected territories expect?

Vladimir Putin:  It is clear who is to blame. The Ukrainian side was striving for this.

You know, I'm not 100 percent going to say things that I'm not sure about right now. By and large, we did not record large explosions before the destruction occurred. At least, that's what I was told. But they purposefully hit the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric station with their Haimars many times - that's the whole point. Maybe they had some bookmark there, I don’t know now, maybe they once again added something insignificant, and destruction began.

But, as we understand, we are definitely not interested in this, because these are serious consequences for those territories that we control and which are Russian. This is the first.

And the second. Unfortunately - I will say a strange thing, but nevertheless - unfortunately, this thwarted their counteroffensive in this direction. Unfortunately - why? Because it would be better if they were advancing there. It's better for us, because it would be very bad for them to attack there. But, since such a spill occurred, then, accordingly, the offensive did not take place.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations is working very actively there, and the military is working actively, as well as local authorities. I recently spoke with the acting head of the Kherson region, with Saldo, he says: “I'll tell you honestly, we are surprised. We have never seen such a well-coordinated work.” God forbid that this was actually the case, although there are certainly problems.

There are people who refuse to leave somewhere, to evacuate. To be honest, this happens to us too. I remember on the Lena, when there was a flood, people were sitting on the ridge of the roofs and did not want to leave, because they were afraid to leave the house, they were afraid that they would plunder, and so on. This is business as usual. There may be other considerations, of a different nature. In any case, everything that can be done is being done: the Ministry of Emergency Situations is working very actively, I repeat, local authorities, the Ministry of Health has also joined the FMBA.

We must now approach the issue of environmental safety and sanitary safety in the most serious way, because there are cattle burial grounds under water, cemeteries are under water. This is a serious problem, but it is solvable. It will be necessary to connect, - the Minister has already reported to me, he gave the command, - chemical defense troops. Together, by joining forces, I think we will solve all problems, including water supply.

Today I spoke with Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin. He says that he will have to deal with water supply there, build new wells. But the work is going on. As the water leaves, it is already gradually leaving, everything will be solved as these problems appear. Of course, many livestock and wild animals died, unfortunately. We will need to organize all this, clean up the territory.

As for people, all people will be provided with assistance in accordance with Russian legislation and standards. All these conditions are well known, they are written in our laws. Everything will be done in the same way as for all other citizens of the Russian Federation, for each household. I have already told Minister Kurenkov that they are to take an active part in the assessment of damage to property - movable and immovable. So we will do everything.

Yevgeny Agranovich:  Thank you.

Alexander Kots:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Alexander Kots, Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The question may be unpleasant, but it is often asked to us by people.

Vladimir Putin:  No such thing as unpleasant questions.

A.Kots:  Both our readers and spectators often turn to us with the same questions - the question of the activity of the enemy in our rear.

Hardly a week goes by without news of drones either trying to hit infrastructure facilities or attacking them. Naturally, our border area, especially the Belgorod region, has an acute issue.

The question is this: how does it happen that enemy drones reach the Kremlin, and why, having started to liberate the Donbass, we are now forced to evacuate our population from the border areas, which are already being entered into by Polish mercenaries and Polish is spoken on our territory.

Vladimir Putin:  Polish mercenaries are indeed fighting there – you are absolutely right, I agree with you – and they are suffering more losses. True, they hide them, but the losses are serious. It is a pity that they hide in front of their population too. Mercenaries are being recruited - right in Poland, in other countries, by the way. They take losses. That is the first point.

The second is about drones. You probably know, and your colleagues also know, at one time in Khmeimim we had a situation when these drones flew in, unfortunately, several grenades were thrown over the territory of Khmeimim, and we had losses among the personnel there. But we rather quickly learned to deal with them in various ways. It is sometimes difficult, but a solvable task.

Here, apparently, the same is true: our relevant structures need to make the necessary decisions, because this traditional air defense system, you know for sure, is used for what – missiles, large aircraft. And as a rule, the drones you are talking about are also aware of this, they are made of modern lightweight materials, made of wood, and it is quite difficult to detect them. But they still show up. Although here, of course, it is necessary to carry out appropriate work, detect it in time, and so on. And this, of course, is being done and will be done certainly. As far as Moscow and other major centers are concerned, I don't even have any doubts about it.

We must, yes, we must properly organize this work. And of course, it would be better if this was done in a timely manner and at the proper level. Nevertheless, this work is being carried out, and, I repeat, I am sure that these tasks will be solved.

As for the border territories, there is a problem, it is connected - and I think you understand this too - mainly with the desire to divert our forces and means to this side, to withdraw part of the units from those areas that are considered the most important and critical from the point of view of a possible offensive by the armed forces of Ukraine. We don't need to do this, but of course we have to keep our citizens safe.

What can be said here? Of course, we need to strengthen the border, and if any of you work there, you can see that this process is going on, going fast enough, and this task will also be solved – strengthening the borders. But the possibility of shelling of our territory from the territory of Ukraine, of course, remains. And there are several solutions here.

Firstly, an increase in efficiency and counter-battery combat, but this does not mean that there will be no so-called arrivals on our territory. And if this continues, then we will apparently have to consider the issue - I say this very carefully - in order to create some kind of sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine at such a distance from which it would be impossible to get our territory. But this is a separate issue, I am not saying that tomorrow we will start this work. We need to look at how the situation develops.

But in general, there is no one in the Belgorod region now and nowhere, and both border guards and the Armed Forces are now working there. So, of course, there is nothing good in this: in principle, one could assume that the enemy would behave in this way, and one could probably prepare better. Agreed. But the problem will be solved - either this way or the way I said.

Yevgeny Poddubny:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Poddubny Yevgeny, All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Continuing the theme of Alexander.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, Yevgeny, please.

E. Poddubny:  The enemy intelligence agencies are openly working on our territory, openly in terms of the fact that they do not even deny that they are hunting for leaders of public opinion in Russia: the murder of Dugina, the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, the attempt on Prilepin. As a matter of fact, it is clear that the Ukrainian special services are conducting terrorist, sabotage activities in our country.

How will the Russian state fight the enemy's agents, the enemy's special services that operate on the territory of Russia?

Vladimir Putin:  Your question is very close to what Alexander asked, approximately, because these are essentially equivalent activities. We must fight, we are fighting, we are doing it, and some results of this work become public, and the public is familiar with it: the detention of agents, intelligence officers of a neighboring state. The work is ongoing.

But I want to point out something. We, unlike today's Ukrainian authorities, cannot use terrorist methods: we still have a state, a country, and there is a regime. They actually operate as a regime based on terror: they have a very tough counterintelligence regime, martial law. I don't think we need to do it now. We just need to improve and expand the work of law enforcement and special services. And in general, it seems to me that the tasks in this regard are also solvable.

Those tragedies that you mentioned, you yourself analyze all this, you see what happened. Someone brought something, they didn’t look at the car, there was no inspection.

Dasha died, a very bright person - a huge tragedy. Was she a militant, or something, did she fight with a weapon in her hands? She is just an intellectual, she expressed her point of view, her position. But, unfortunately, no one thought about security - they just planted an explosive device under the bottom [of the car], and that's it. But, by the way, this once again confirms the terroristic nature of the current regime in Kyiv. We need to think about it. With regard to those people who may be the targets of these terrorists, of course, both law enforcement agencies and the people themselves must think and ensure security.

But in general across the country to introduce some kind of special regime, martial law does not make any sense, there is no such need today. We need to work more carefully on some issues - here I agree with you.

Mikhail Dolgov:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Maxim Dolgov, Readovka.

During the shelling, people often lose everything they have acquired: these are houses, property, and so on. It is very important that our border regions, such as Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, help our people very promptly and quickly. But the question is, will the regions have enough of this assistance?

Vladimir Putin:  And we are in almost constant contact with the leaders of these regions, and I talk to them. They formulate their needs, put them on paper, give them back to us.

Today, only Mikhail Vladimirovich [Mishustin] and I talked in the morning - we discussed a number of issues with him for quite a long time, including, by the way, this issue. And with Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin too. We are in the Belgorod region - I may be a little mistaken - but in general, in my opinion, 3.8 billion rubles have been provided for helping people. And some of these funds, in my opinion, [one] billion 300 [million], or something, or 800 billion, have already been sent to the Belgorod region. So it's absolutely perfect.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Of course, people need to be helped, and we will help pointwise - for each family, for each housing construction victim - we will definitely do this. This also applies to the acquisition of new housing, and the restoration of the lost, of course. And, of course, we have enough funds. Funds will come, they are already coming from the Government's Reserve Fund. They are provided.

Mikhail Dolgov:  Thank you.

Andrei Rudenko:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Andrey Rudenko, Rossiya TV channel.

To date, the medical sector of Donbass is under a huge burden. Today, hospitals accept not only civilians, but also military personnel. But at the same time, there is a huge shortage of both personnel and medical equipment: there are not enough MRI and CT scans. Today, such diagnostic procedures are put off for four months, that is, a person needs to do this procedure today, and he is put in four months. Can this problem be solved in these territories?

Vladimir Putin:  Of course. Andrey Vladimirovich, of course, it is possible and necessary.

After all, these CT scans and MRI are gone, not because our operation began, but because they were never there. Do you understand? It just never happened. In the Donetsk Republic, as far as I remember, when we discussed with the Ministry of Health, with Tatiana Alekseevna Golikova, there are two MRIs.

Andrei Rudenko:  Two MRI scans, 1.5 Tesla.

Vladimir Putin:  You see, I remember. And one is mounted. In the Kherson region, there is none at all: in order to examine people, they have to travel to the Crimea. Well, in the Crimea once there wasn’t one. Now everything is better and better, more and more appears. Too little, not enough, but something nonetheless.

We have adopted a program through 2030, and very decent funds have been allocated there. They are all fixed, we are not going to reduce anything. Partially corresponding regions of the Russian Federation, which took patronage over new territories, these regions recieve help. Moreover, this is solid assistance, in my opinion, more than 17 billion are leaving the regions. From federal sources too. So we will do everything.

There is also a program for the revival of children's institutions, preschools. Preschool, in my opinion, 1300 need to be restored. About 1,400 schools are to be restored and built. And medical facilities too. All this is included in the corresponding development program for these territories. We will certainly bring them up to the all-Russian level. This also applies to wages, some additional wages have already been introduced for some categories and will continue to do so.

Of course, I know you are right, of course, when you pay attention to this. One of the most acute problems is, of course, the lack of places in institutions today, especially due to the fact that during the hostilities the injured people come from the civilian population and from the military. At some point, some medical institutions were completely overcrowded.

I repeat once again: within the framework of this program until 2030, we will step up these efforts, including in medicine. This also applies to wages. In general, in this area we will need to do something – we won’t have to, but we will definitely do it – we will bring it up to the all-Russian level and all-Russian standards. For example, certain categories of workers, including in the field of medicine, will have to receive, as we have in Russia, the average for the economy. We will gradually move towards this.

Oleksandr Rudenko:  Mr President, today hospitals have become targets for the Ukrainian armed forces, and attacks are constantly being made. Doctors live at constant risk to their lives. It would be nice if they were made members of the CBO, like other categories that are working in this direction - in the direction of victory, I mean.

Vladimir Putin:  We need to look carefully. After all, those who have been fighting since 2014… It is necessary that social justice be balanced here: it is one thing when a person is on the front line, and another thing is when he is in danger, but still is not on the front line.

But you are certainly right that this aspect of danger should also be taken into account in the level of wages. We will definitely think about it.

Alexei Rudenko:  Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin:  Thank you for your sensitive question. I understand.

Yevgeny Agranovich:  One more question.

Vladimir Putin:  Please.

E. Agranovich:  In the West, we are constantly accused of destroying and stealing everything in Ukraine, from monuments to children.

Vladimir Putin:  Monuments? What are the monuments? Here they are demolishing monuments: we could create some kind of park from the monuments demolished in Ukraine - this could be done.

Do you have a lot of followers on your blog?

Yevgeny Agranovich:  Relatively. Less than Rudenko.

Vladimir Putin:  All right, all right, it doesn’t matter. You will suggest that everyone send monuments to Russia. Here in Odessa, the monument to Catherine II, the founder of the city, was demolished, we would have taken it with pleasure.

Yevgeny Agranovich:  My question is a bit different. The bottom line is that they themselves are doing this all over the world - kidnapping and destruction. But the export picture of what life is like in the West, how everything works there, is ideal. And people in Russia and Ukraine are exposed to this propaganda. This issue is especially acute in the new territories, because for eight years, since 2014, people there have been constantly surrounded by Ukrainian flags - everything is so decorous, noble, constantly influencing them. Therefore, when we liberate these territories, it turns out that there are, of course, many people who disagree, and now everyone has the opportunity to express this disagreement. If you go on the Internet, they freely upload videos from cities, for example, the Zaporozhye region: how they are waiting for Ukraine, how they are living under an occupation.

A question. How do we plan to influence the minds of children, the minds of teenagers, adults? It is clear that Russia is indeed a free country – we all freely express our opinion. But in combat conditions, this is a matter of security first and foremost.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, you are right. Of course, in the conditions of hostilities it would be possible to limit something. But we must not forget that what you just said is, of course, to a large extent the work of the opposite side, the opposing side. Because work in the information space is a battlefield, and a very important battlefield.

Therefore, if someone with a return address uploads and writes something, this is one thing. And when there is no address and it is not clear who writes and who speaks, this is a completely different story. Because you and I know very well that you can also post on the Internet automatically, using well-known technical means, and you can wind up these videos or opinions by the millions, and behind this is one person who simply uses modern means, and replicates them endlessly. But, of course, there are certainly people who are configured accordingly, and they can express their point of view.

What can be opposed? I think this audience will understand me. This can and should be countered not so much by restrictions on administrative or law enforcement claims, as by effective work in the information sphere on our part. And here I really count on your help.

Alexei Sladkov:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Alexander Sladkov, VGTRK.

Four questions. The first is rotation.

Vladimir Putin:  And who is our moderator?

Alexei Sladkov:  I am Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Vladimir Putin:  You are close, on the line of contact.

Alexei Sladkov:  Toward the decision-making center.

Vladimir Putin:  No, it’s close to the line of contact, and, apparently, from there, from Ukrainian territory, they smelled it.

Alexei Sladkov:  Got drunk again.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, yes, yes. This spirit of unfreedom. And you're abusing your moderator position.

Alexei Sladkov:  I confess, yes.

Vladimir Putin:  Go ahead.

Alexei Sladkov:  First, the painful issue of rotation.

We sent our mobilized guys to the front. They prepared, directed, they fight - with dignity, they give themselves away. Wives, mothers, relatives are interested in: how long did they leave for? Before victory? When will the victory be? We have a difficult road ahead of us. Do you think the time will come when they need to be rotated, changed? And, by the way, many are sure that these people will mostly return to the NVO zone, because they are determined to fight to the end after all. But when there is no limit, it is very difficult to be psychologically stable - I'm talking about families.

Second question. We are recruiting contractors today. Yevgeny Burdinsky - a general - is doing an excellent job, he is a professional, deputy chief of the General Staff. But today is the 21st century, isn't it time for us to change the system or make it complex? We are waiting for people who come according to the announcement, we invite them, but isn't it time for us to go to those people who can help us? Distribute according to military specialties, make this work planned: how many machine gunners do we need, how many grenade launchers, drivers, signalmen, reconnaissance officers, so that we do not take en masse for a contract, but take those people we need.

The third question is conscripts. In connection with the events in which conscripts adequately represented the Armed Forces in the Belgorod region, repelling enemy attacks, again relatives are interested, asking, writing: what is their status? Yes, I know that it is planned to pass a certain federal law, but will conscripts continue to participate in hostilities?

And the fourth question is regarding mobilization. Will there be a new mobilization?

Finished.

Vladimir Putin:  The questions are really serious, so we need to talk about these topics, of course. First of all, the mobilized, rotation, when to change, when it ends.

You know, I'm just starting from the law now: the law does not provide for specific deadlines. First of all, it will be necessary to proceed from the availability of personnel, from how the situation on the line of contact is developing, how the special military operation itself is going.

You know that, in fact, also at my suggestion, we decided to implement regular vacations.

Alexei Sladkov:  Yes, once every six months. You accepted this, you announced in your [Message to the Federal] Assembly.

Vladimir Putin:  People went. And what is curious, someone doubted whether they would return: almost everyone returns - with very few exceptions, and then, as a rule, due to the fact that a person fell ill, some other unexpected family circumstances. But in general, I don’t know how many, more than 90, 99 percent return.

Alexei Sladkov:  Yes, yes.

Vladimir Putin:  This is the first part of the answer to this question.

Second, I started with it: of course, someday it will be necessary to gradually return people home, and such an issue, of course, is being discussed in the Ministry of Defense, and eveluated. This will depend on how the fourth question you asked about whether some kind of mobilization is needed and so on will be resolved – I will get to it now.

Contractors. I recently spoke with Burdinsky - in general, the work is going on, the work is going really well. He is recruiting contractors. One of the Deputy Ministers of Defense is preparing.

A. Sladkov:  Yevkurov.

Vladimir Putin:  Quite right. He is organizing the training - it is well established. I don't know, have you been there? If you haven't been, you can drop by.

Alexei Sladkov:  Of course.

Vladimir Putin:  On the whole, everything is getting better and better there. Probably, there are still problems, but the technology is already coming to them, they are working. There is no limit to perfection. Naturally, wherever you poke your finger, there are always some problems, but in general the situation is changing for the better. Do technologies need to be changed? Probably something to think about. What's the matter? The fact is that we, of course – you are right, you are absolutely right – need to recruit in a targeted manner.

Now about conscripts. As mentioned earlier, they are sent to the zone of the special military operation, and it passes through Novorossia and Donbass, as we said that we do not plan to send them there, and this is how things are now. Although, of course, today these territories are already the territory of the Russian Federation, nevertheless, a special military operation continues there, and, as the Ministry of Defense reports to me, there is no need to send them to this zone. But in the Belgorod Region, Kursk Region, in those territories where the Armed Forces traditionally stand, they provide security, of course, they are present there, and in the event of a threat, they must fulfill their sacred duty to the Motherland and defend the Fatherland.

I must say that I talked with the battalion commander who fought in the Belgorod direction. I ask him: how are you, how many mobilized and how many conscripts do you have? He says: all conscripts, I have no mobilized at all. Battalion commander. I say: and how did the guys behave? [Answer:] brilliant - no one flinched, no one flinched at all. But, it’s true, there was a moment when Colonel General Lapin personally walked along with the soldiers with service weapons.

Alexei Sladkov:  We watched this picture with great anxiety.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, yes. But the men showed themselves in the best way.

So I think I answered your question. Of course, they will be there, just like in other territories of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Defense does not plan to send them directly to the war zone, to the NVO zone, and there is no need for this.

And he [the battalion commander] was so confident, you know - I was pleased to talk to him, in my opinion, Nikitin is his last name, - he spoke very well and warmly about the guys, very good. He says, “Nobody flinched at all. And they were very collected, they worked efficiently.”

Now about whether additional mobilization is needed. I don’t particularly follow this, but some of ours and public figures say that we urgently need to recruit, another million or even two million. It depends on what we want. But at the end of the Great Patriotic War, how many there ...

Alexander Sladkov:  Ten.

Vladimir Putin:  No, maybe there were ten million throughout the entire war, but at the end of the war, I think, we had five million in the Armed Forces. I could be wrong, I don't remember exactly.

Some things I remember exactly, for example – excuse me for digressing – that almost 70 percent of the losses, 69 percent, during the Great Patriotic War fell on the RSFSR – this is pretty accurate data. But this is a distraction. It doesn't matter how many there were, but a lot. It depends on the purpose.

Look, our troops were near Kyiv. First, we agreed, and it turned out to be a good agreement on how to resolve the current situation by peaceful means, although they threw it out, but nevertheless, during this time we have reached where we are now. And this is practically the whole of Novorossia and a significant part of Donetsk with access to the Sea of Azov and Mariupol. And almost everything, with a few exceptions, in the Luhansk People's Republic.

Do we need to go back or not? Why am I asking such a rhetorical question? It is clear that you have no answer to this - I can only answer it myself. But depending on what goals we set for ourselves, we must resolve issues of mobilization, but there is no such need today. This is the first point.

And secondly. What I will say at the end, answering your question, I do not know if it was somewhere or not. Starting from January of this year, we actually began work on concluding contracts with contractors, now, at this point in time, we have recruited over 150 thousand, and together with volunteers - 156 thousand people. And our mobilization was 300, as we remember. And now voluntarily, of their own free will, people come. In fact, work began in February - 156 thousand people, and work continues: over the past week, 9.5 thousand contracts have been signed on - in a week.

Alexei Sladkov:  Half a corps.

Vladimir Putin:  9.5 thousand people. Under these conditions, the Ministry of Defense reports that, of course, there is no need for mobilization today.

But what is happening is unexpected even for me: after all, 156,000 people volunteer. You know, as we say, a Russian peasant harnesses slowly, but drives fast. People volunteer to defend the Fatherland.

Alexander Sladkov:  Thank you.

Alexei Borodkin:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Anatoly Borodkin, Zvezda TV channel.

You have already said that Western countries are pumping up the Kiev regime with the most modern weapons systems.

Vladimir Putin:  They are pumping them up.

A. Borodkin:  And in this regard, the question is: what will we do in order to develop our military-industrial complex in order to prevent, firstly, a quantitative lag, and, above all, seriously overtake the enemy and provide modern weapons systems, a sufficient number of our Armed forces? We know that a Coordinating Council has been created, by the way, how do you assess its work?

Because so far, to be honest, it seems that we have problems - this chain sags from the defense order, introduction into production, mass industrial production of products and their receipt at the front. What can I do to make it work as quickly as possible?

Vladimir Putin:  You know, this is a fundamental question, an absolutely fundamental one. When we say, and I said, and you just repeated, that the West is pumping weapons into Ukraine, it is true, no one hides it, on the contrary, they are proud of it. By the way, there are certain problems here, because to a certain extent they violate certain international legal acts by supplying weapons to the conflict zone. Yes, yes, yes, they just prefer not to notice it, but they do it. God bless them, they will do it anyway, and it is absolutely pointless to reproach them, because they have their own geopolitical goals in relation to Russia, which they will never achieve, never. They have to realize it eventually. But I think that gradually awareness will come to them.

Regarding weapons, the development of the defense industry. You know, we wouldn't have had any opportunities if we hadn't eight years ago, maybe you remember when it was, we didn't announce and start implementing the defense industry modernization program. Remember, yes, everyone present here, many of you must have paid attention. It was probably eight years ago, maybe even a little more: we started a program to modernize the military-industrial complex. We allocated very large funds for that period of time and gradually began to re-equip our enterprises, build new ones, install new modern equipment, and so on. Therefore, the backlog was made very solid.

Of course, during the special military operation, it became clear that many things were missing. These are high-precision munitions, means of communication.

Alexei Borodkin:  UAVs.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, and aircraft, these drones and so on. We have them - we, unfortunately, do not have enough of them quantitatively. And until now, when I talk with the guys who are right on the front line, they need ZALA, they need counter-battery weapons - both bigger and smaller, more effective. Although these healthy ones are quite effective, they are few in number and difficult to work with.

Now I was talking about the fact that where the Ukrainian army is trying to attack, several tanks have already been destroyed, in my opinion, including destroyed by kamikaze drones. They are used very effectively, probably much more effectively than the means that the enemy has, but they are not enough. And "Orlans" are not enough, and the quality of these "Orlans" needs to be improved, although they fulfill their task. That is, there is a lot of what you need. Modern means of anti-tank warfare are needed, and modern tanks are also needed.

The T-90 Proryv is the best tank in the world - 100 percent. Right now, we can say that the T-90 Proryv is the best tank in the world: as soon as it enters the position, that's it - no one has anything to do there. It is more precise and security is higher. One of the commanders told me, unfortunately, the tanker died there, but the T-90 "Breakthrough" tank hit a landmine. Apparently, he flew up, the man just got injured while being there - not from a live projectile, but just hit hard, and that's it. The tank remained in working order. That is, there is enough of everything ... That is, just not enough, but there is groundwork in all areas, the question is in building [production] up.

I said about the backlog, and now what is happening now. For the main types of weapons, our production for the year increased by 2.7 times. And in the most popular areas - ten times. Ten times! Some industrial enterprises work in two shifts, and many work in three shifts, almost day and night, and they work very well.

I want, as they say in such cases, to take this opportunity to thank our workers, engineers who plow day and night. Many of them go straight to the front line and work to bring the equipment right into the war zone, and they work very well.

Therefore, when we talk about one of the main tasks that we face - about demilitarization, it is being carried out exactly like that. There they have less and less of their own, almost nothing remains. There are still old Soviet enterprises where they try to repair equipment, but there are fewer and fewer of them, because as soon as we get information about where and what is happening, we try to influence these enterprises. And we are growing, and the quality is improving, the characteristics are improving - range, accuracy. If there hadn't been a special military operation, we probably would never have understood how to fine-tune our defense industry so that our army would be the best in the world. But we will do it.

Alexei Borodkin:  Thank you.

Irina Kuksenkova:  Good afternoon, Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Irina Kuksenkova, Channel One.

I have a question on a topic that concerns me - rehabilitation, since I am involved in it. This is no less important than combat work, the supply of troops, honestly, I know this for sure.

Thank you very much for creating the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. In fact, now you can’t imagine how we would have coped without him with this pile of questions. The guys who gave their health for the interests of our country, they should not feel any resentment and injustice.

The question is what - the question is that our regions are not just financially different, they are different even in terms of organization, and assistance to them should be provided with the same quality in all regions. But they are different and help, respectively, will be different. What do you think about this problem?

Vladimir Putin:  You know, this is a sensitive issue, I understand. And good. Someone said that the questions would be different, including very sensitive ones - you were right when they said this. But they are all important questions. It is also very important, I understand.

You know, the idea of ​​creating the Defenders of the Fatherland support fund came to me after meeting with the wives and mothers of the guys who are fighting and some of whom, unfortunately, gave their lives for their Motherland. I met them in Ogaryovo a few months ago. And some women, one mother of a wounded soldier, said: so, to be honest, it’s hard for me, because the wound is severe, and it’s hard for me, she says. They then said: some system of state support is needed. And this idea arose - to create a fund to support the defenders of the NWO. I hope that it starts up, works more and more actively. And it is very good that people work there who are somehow connected with the special military operation - either relatives or former participants, and there are also such people.

In this regard, what would you like to say? First, guarantees from the state are the same for everyone. And the level of cash income for all is the same - initially 196 thousand and then all sorts of things related to monetary allowance. And social guarantees with various payments from public sources are the same for everyone.

But you are right: when it comes to payments from the regions, these are voluntary social payments to the regions – no one forces the regions to do this, they do it additionally. Here, of course, this circumstance that you mentioned is at work: different regions have different approaches – they are trying, some organize additional payments, some help families. For example, free meals in schools for children, priority admission to universities, but this is the all-Russian rule - priority admission to universities, preschool institutions do a lot for families.

Yes, there is such a problem here: each region is suitable in its own way. Here it is quite difficult to “comb” everything in the same way, because it is, as it were, of the prerogatives of the region itself. But I need to think about it, I understand.

Irina Kuksenkova:  The question is not even in financing, not in wealth, but in the fact that someone needs to be approaching this in an organized way and with a soul. For example, we carry out rehabilitation, introduce wounded children with amputations to the Paralympic sport in the Tula region. I know exactly what is organized there, I see it. We have now finished the shift, just a few days ago, everything is just on the shelves. And in other regions, for example, I see that there are some questions. How exactly to build this organization so that people treat it with some soul and responsibly?

Vladimir Putin:  Do you know what I was thinking now? Now I thought about something - that we need to take these best practices and recommend them in other regions. Here you can not force, and there is no need to. doso. I'm just sure that the heads of regions, governors, if they don't do something like their neighbors, not because they don't want to, but because they simply don't know, there is no such information. But it needs to be replicated.

Give it to us, please – yes, yes, I am quite serious – and we will try, we will not try, we will do it through the Administration, through the plenipotentiaries, we will implement it throughout the country.

Irina Kuksenkova:  Thank you.

Vladimir Putin:  And thank you very much. It is very important.

Sergei Pegov:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, Semyon Pegov, WarGonzo project.

Although I am not a moderator, but red-haired and arrogant, I will ask two questions.

Vladimir Putin:  But not all redheads are impudent. (Laughter.)

Sergei Pegov:  Well, it's not about me.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, the first question. It is known at all times that cadres decide everything, especially in the army, especially during the war.

Vladimir Putin:  That’s what Stalin said, right?

Sergei Pegov:  Yes, I think so.

The existing bureaucratic system, unfortunately, is arranged in such a way that now it is mainly those who serve well on the floor who are able, as they say, to suck up to the authorities in time, making their way to the top. But now new Rokossovskys, new talented guys are being born at the front. By the way, big hello to you from the Donbass commanders, from "Somalia", from the OBTF [separate battalion-tactical formation] "Kaskad", from "Sparta", but this is not only about them.

Indeed, now there are many talents, in a good way daring, but the system, as it were, does not let them climb up. How can this issue be resolved so that we have new "emeralds" of our military art, military art? And they exist, believe me.

The second question, also sensitive, concerns payments for injuries, unfortunately, for the death of servicemen. Some issues in Turchak's working group are resolved manually, but there is, for example, the issue of payments for destroyed equipment. Personally, I don’t know anyone - the guys won’t let you lie - I don’t know a single fighter who would receive a payment for a damaged tank, for a destroyed fortified area. Although this was all announced, everyone knows this and even somehow laughs a little with each other: why they promised, but nothing of this. And I repeat: the boys are not lying - this is true.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin:  This is not just a question, it is a call to action.

As for the staff - the first part of the "Merleson Ballet". This is a very important question. Before the SMO, of course, as in any state structure, there were a lot of “parquet” people. You know, until the pandemic began, there was one situation in healthcare, but as soon as the pandemic began, people immediately began to appear who can be equated with military personnel, although they are purely civilians. We ourselves know when people fearlessly went into these dangerous zones, not even understanding how it could end for them. The same is true in the military environment: a special military operation began, and very quickly they began to realize that "parquet" generals - and there are more than enough of them in any army in the world in peacetime, everywhere - they are, to put it mildly, ineffective.

And vice versa - here you are right, Semyon Vladimirovich - people began to appear who seemed to be sitting in the shade - they were not seen, not heard, but it turned out that they were very effective and very necessary. Unfortunately, such people are the first to die, because they do not spare themselves - that's the trouble.

But nevertheless, we certainly must… I hope that this is still happening and will continue to happen. Must observer carefully. Now I will tell you why - because we are absolutely like-minded in this. I fully share this position - completely and completely. We need to look for such people - look for them and drag them upstairs, send them to study, promote them in rank, in positions, trust them more.

The best example is the last one. You know, I was in the hospital yesterday, I handed orders to the guys, and this commander, who commanded well on the front, during the hostilities, I handed him the Star of the Hero. When I was still talking on the phone with him, it was the most frank conversation, because the guy was brought straight from the battlefield to the hospital, they hadn’t done anything to him yet - they didn’t do an operation, nothing, his legs were anesthetized only because of two wounds, and one of the wound touched touched his tibia. He spoke to me with the voice of fighter, I asked him how the battle went.

I was thinking about this yesterday, and I think it's important, so I'll say it again. I ask him: "Listen, Yuri Yuryevich, they told me that you died." He says: “Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, I am alive. No, I'm not dead, I'm alive. I say: “I see that you are alive, now. But I was told that then the soldiers carried you out of the battlefield.” He says: “No, I endured them myself.” I say: “How is it? With an injury? He says: "Yes, two wounds, both in the leg." Yesterday he explained to me: the first one was from a bullet, and the second from a fragment, but already, when they came out completely, he received a second wound. By the way, I said: “Have you been serving for a long time?” He says, "Eight years." I say: “How old are you?” - "24". I say: “Wait, what time are you?”. He says: "From 18". I say: "Then six." He says: "Sorry, I'm worried, I made a mistake." (Laughter.) I say, “Yes, I understand. You are a second lieutenant. He: "Yes." "Commanding a company?" - "Yes". You know, I remembered it yesterday and now: “Tell me, how did the battle go?” - "First, artillery preparation - no one flinched, everyone remained in place, then the tanks went." I say: “Nothing, personnel?” - "Everything is in place, everyone accepted the battle, behind them - armored vehicles and infantry."

Do you understand how this differs from the Great Patriotic War? Nothing, everything is the same. For specific people who die, get injured, fight, fight - it's no different.

I ask him: “Are you in command of a company, junior lieutenant? I understand that in the recent past you were a sergeant. He says yes. By the way, sergeants are now fighting very well: this stratum of junior commanders has grown up a little over this year, and they are fighting well. He was a sergeant. I say: “Are you a junior lieutenant now?” - "Yes". I told him: "I give you the rank of senior lieutenant." Yesterday I told him: "We must go to school." And these guys, of course, should be looked for everywhere.

Smart, literate, balanced, courageous, determined to serve the Fatherland - really, in the most direct and noble sense of the word. And his guys are the same. And, you know, I say: “Are there any losses?” He says: "Yes, unfortunately, there are." I say: "And what?" “Ten dead, ten wounded.” The guys were standing next to him, and yesterday they were also next to him - from his unit.

Of course, you need to look for those. There are many, you are absolutely right. I must say that both the Minister [of Defense] and the Chief of the General Staff fully share my position, I have spoken about this many times, they say: of course, this must be done. But you are also right that the bureaucracy there is the same as in any Ministry, it is multi-layered, and, of course, it is necessary to develop a mechanism for this elevator - a search and an elevator that would raise such people to the level necessary for the army and the country.

I will also think about it myself and suggest to you: there is nothing of the kind here - these are not some special things related to military science, these are purely administrative decisions. If there are any ideas here - state them, do not be shy, okay? This is the correct way.

About payments. Yes, indeed, there, I don’t remember exactly, but, in my opinion, for an airplane - 300 thousand, for a tank - 100 thousand should be paid additionally. The fact that they do not pay these out is unexpected for me.

S. Pegov:  Unfortunately, this is an absolute fact – the boys are not lying.

Vladimir Putin:  I do not dispute what you said, I proceed from the fact that it is so. I will definitely return to this today in a conversation with the Ministry of Defense - definitely, 100 percent.

By the way, the boys are very courageous and work effectively. I just said, when we started the conversation, that the attack is coming from two directions. Several tanks were knocked out with the help of aircraft, the "turntables" work very well. By the way, many thanks to the pilots. Heroes, real heroes! They fight effectively, really smooth. And several armored vehicles and a tank were hit by infantry using anti-tank weapons, which modern ones are also not very enough. Cornets work perfectly, but more are needed. Let us do more.

So I will definitely follow-up on this.

Sergei Pegov:  Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Vladimir Putin:  Thank you for drawing my attention to this.

Please, is there anything else?

Ivan Lyadvin:  Mr President, good afternoon!

Ilya Lyadvin, NTV.

The topic of payments to contractors has already been touched upon literally a question ago. But nevertheless, I would like to expand the regional case a little, because, for example, Chuvashia - a payment of 50 [thousand rubles], Chelyabinsk - 50, but there are small allowances for children, but Transbaikalia - 150-200, Buryatia - 200. Here is such moment: do we really have a gap, so to speak, in terms of the involvement of the regions is such that someone can lay out 200 ...

Vladimir Putin:  I have already said, Irina Yulyevna asked, and I have already answered. As for federal payments, they are the same for everyone - no matter where a person comes from in the Armed Forces.

Ivan Lyadvin:  Yes, they are equal.

Vladimir Putin:  As for regional payments, they are regionally voluntary – the region does this additionally, and here we cannot give direct instructions. We can recommend choosing some common bar.

You are absolutely right, of course: a person who is fighting is standing nearby, maybe in a trench, covering or pulling the wounded from the battlefield, but one gets a little more, I mean this additional allowance from the region, the other gets less, of course it looks bad.

I repeat once again: this does not apply to federal agencies – these are purely regional payments, which are generally optional. The regions could pay nothing at all, but they do it voluntarily. But, of course, it is better to have some general approach here.

I agree, you are right. We will work with the governors.

Ilya Lyadvin:  It's just, perhaps, some kind of general program, so that it would be addressed at the legislative level, perhaps.

Vladimir Putin:  Ilya Vladimirovich, unlike Ukraine, we are a state governed by the rule of law. This is not a joke, this is not irony. What am I talking about? The regions have certain rights, but the regions have certain duties, the Federation has certain rights. The federation, no matter how paradoxical it may sound, in this case cannot give direct instructions in accordance with the distribution of powers. But we can recommend, and I am sure that the governors will respond, but I would like it to increase rather than decrease [our responsibilities]. We will definitely work on this.

You are right, I fully support you - completely, believe me. I know this problem - I have already spoken many times about it at different levels, but it is quite difficult to achieve alignment. Let's try to fix it.

Ivan Lyadvin:  Thank you.

Yu. Podolyak:  Vladimir Vladimirovych, Yury Podolyak, blogger.

I would like to return to a question that has already been raised - about saturating the army with modern weapons systems.

Unfortunately, it just so happened, we did not know before the special operation that many special equipment and weapons would be needed, and now a lot of these equipment is being made like handicraft. I am collecting funds from the Popular Front, and we are now raising funds for electronic warfare [electronic warfare] equipment, and I will tell you right away: practically, but not practically, all the funds that will be purchased with this money will be calculated, in fact, on the knee [he means on the fly, unsystematically, on the back of a napkin].

What is the problem then? These systems show effectiveness at the front, the soldiers say yes, this is what we need, but our bureaucratic system does not allow them to be quickly introduced and used systematically. That is, the mean that we have are scant, maybe thousands, tens of thousands [of roubles] to buy, but we need hundreds of thousands, unfortunately.

Maybe through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, maybe through the Ministry of Defense somehow for a special military operation to simplify these procedures for these funds? This will immediately dramatically increase the efficiency and security of our guys. Just for example: an individual drone analyzer - it will save thousands of lives of our soldiers. It is not difficult to introduce it, it is not complicated, we will buy thousands of them, but tens of thousands are needed. And our Ministry of Defense cannot do this, because there are bureaucratic structures that need to be sorted out which will take months, and this all costs all the lives of our soldiers.

It would be great if we could solve this problem if possible. Thank you.

The second - later, if possible. If possible, then the second [question].

Vladimir Putin:  Now, wait a second. The problem is known, but here Anatoly Leonidovich [Borodkin], in my opinion, was talking about the work of the military-industrial sector. You just suggested to me an addition to the answer to Anatoly Leonidovich's question.

You know, in addition to the fact that we have made a good start in the modernization of the military-industrial complex, and besides the fact that now the output of the most demanded products is growing quite quickly, they have already increased tenfold, there is another advantage, very big, frankly speaking even unexpected for me. We have dozens, hundreds of private enterprises that have never had anything to do with the military-industrial complex, joined in this work - small and medium-sized enterprises. I will not name now, because I am afraid that we will attract unnecessary attention to these enterprises.

You know, they did, conditionally there, pipes - it turns out that you can do something else besides pipes. And just so in very many areas, that is, surprisingly simplly. And this speaks, on the whole, of a good level of development of real production in general. Yes, yes, we have [problems in] microelectronics - many problems, many, but nevertheless, as it turned out, they were able to pick it up very quickly and begin to develop.

But nevertheless, we have not solved all the problems, and here Yuri Ivanovich is absolutely right. Believe me, I have already said a hundred times what you just said. I will come back to this again, I will try to fix it again. [Share] if you have any ideas on how to bypass these unnecessary bureaucratic procedures in order to raise pressing issues to the top.

But here, when I start to push something, I get the answer back - you know, that we have to check how effective it is. Well, what do you say about this, do you understand?

Yury Podolyaka: Soldiers at the front say it is effective. And you know, a very good argument that the soldiers use, which will be simply deadly for such officials, they say: well, if it is ineffective, give us an effective one.

Accordingly, while ours, for example, the Ministry cannot give an effective one, let it be one, which for some reason they consider ineffective. If the soldiers think it is useful that is.

Vladimir Putin:  Yury Ivanovich, the simplest thing is: give me what you have in mind, and I will try…

Yury Podolyaka:  Yes, all right, thank you. I will submit separately.

Vladimir Putin:  That would be the most correct thing to do.

Y. Podolyaka:  Excellent, I will do just that.

Vladimir Putin:  Then you and I will work out a plan on how to overcome these bureaucratic…

Yury Podolyaka:  Good. Thank you.

Ivan Ushenin:  Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Ilya Ushenin, NTV.

I have a question related to the notorious "red lines". It is clear that in the SMO zone we are at war not only with the Kyiv regime, but also with the so-called collective West. NATO countries are constantly shifting our “red lines” somehow, crossing them. We express some concerns, we constantly talk about the inadmissibility of these actions, but there are no real answers.

We, it turns out, will continue to shift our "red line"?

Vladimir Putin:  Listen, isn’t the conduct of a special military operation itself a response to overcoming these “lines”? This is the first, this is the most important thing. We said many times: “Don't do this, don't. Let's do this - we are ready for negotiations." In the end, they encouraged us to try to end the war they started in 2014 by force of arms. They tell us: "Here you started the war, here is Putin - the aggressor." No: they are the aggressors, they started this war, and we are trying to stop it, but we are forced to do it with the help of the Armed Forces. Isn't this already the answer to enforcing some "red lines"? This is the first point.

Secondly. Not everything, perhaps, will be revealed by the media, although there is nothing to be ashamed of. It can also be seen with the strikes on the entire energy system of Ukraine. Isn't this the answer to [overstepping] the "red lines"? And the actual destruction of the headquarters of the main intelligence department of the armed forces of Ukraine near Kiev, which is practically in Kiev, isn’t this our answer?

We will continue to work selectively, we will not do what these idiots do - they hit civilian objects, residential areas. Of course, we will not do this. We will selectively continue to respond.

Sergei Zenin:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, since there are people here who are responsible for your life and health, since this is not a live broadcast, I will first carry out some precautions, then I will say a few words.

Vladimir Putin:  Good.

Sergei Zenin:  I have a present.

Vladimir Putin:  A shaman.

Sergei Zenin:  You know, pure alcohol is the best antiseptic. They don’t go to visit without a gift - this is a gift. The point is this. The person who gave it to me lives far enough from our border and far from the front line thanks to our troops - this is the so-called, not so-called, but actually liberated territory, the village of Timonovo not far from Svatovo. He finds coins in his garden.

Vladimir Putin:  Coins?

Sergei Zenin:  Yes, coins, a whole jar of coins. There are Alexander's coins, and Nikolaev's, and Catherine's. This coin was silver, but after certain reforms it became a copper coin - this is the Nikolaev coin. And the person who gave it to me, giving it away, said: “Look, what the hell is Ukraine like?” Because he found it in his garden.

Why am I telling you this? There is a very important episode. He has a son Nikolai, who himself, on his own initiative - he hears the distant explosions of shells - dug small trenches around the village, but in the undergrowth - the guy himself, with a shovel. He put anti-tank hedgehogs there, put some kind of conditional machine guns and walks around with a home-made machine gun, which we had in our childhoods, I made such machine guns, I made it from wood, a fly from a carnation, and walks, guarding the village. The guy really wants to enter the cadet [school] of the National Guard. Let's help him, please.

Vladimir Putin:  Come on.

How old is he?

Sergei Zenin:  This year he can apply already. He will be 12.

Vladimir Putin:  I will have a talk with Viktor Vasilyevich [Zolotov] today, I promise you. Give me his details.

Sergei Zenin:  Thank you very much. Great, that's very nice.

Vladimir Putin:  Thank you for your work in promoting personnel needed by the Fatherland. God bless.

Sergei Zenin:  I'll give it to you later.

Vladimir Putin:  Good.

S.Zenin:  And yet, having defused the tension, I have two rather sharp and rather important questions.

Vladimir Putin:  As for “what kind of Ukraine is this”. She is whatever she is - and we must treat [Ukraine] with respect. But this does not mean that this is a reason to treat us without any respect. That's what this is about.

If some part of the people living in these territories believe that they want to live in a separate, independent state, this must be treated with respect. But why should they live at our expense? And in our historical territories? And if they want to live in our historical territories, then influence your political leadership in such a way that normal relations with Russia are built, so that no one threatens us from these territories. That's the problem, that's the problem.

How much we argued with the same Belarus, we argued with Lukashenka on many issues and sometimes cursed at each other. It is understandable, because the President of the country, in this case Belarus, defends his interests as he sees fit, consistently, harshly. We had disputes. But did it ever occur to someone to start some kind of conflict with Belarus? It would never even occur to anyone to start some kind of conflict with Ukraine if we had normal human relations. You don't even need any Union State. But this is what they did there - this "anti-Russia" - and they did not just create "anti-Russia", but created it as the basis of their own existence, created this "anti-Russia" and began to strengthen it. This is the problem.

Yes, even in NATO. After all, when Ukraine gained independence, it was written in the Declaration of Independence, I remind you that Ukraine is a neutral state. And who, in 2008, suddenly out of the blue - no Crimean events, nothing - suddenly announced that they want to join NATO, and NATO opened its doors to them, declaring at the famous summit in Bucharest that the doors to NATO are open for Ukraine?

Sergei Zenin:  Well, not yet.

Vladimir Putin:  Not only did they deceive everyone that NATO would not expand to the east, but our historical territories with a Russian-speaking population are in NATO! Are we pissed off? We are. They know they are a threat to us. No, they purposefully sabotage all our attempts to establish normal relations. This is the problem.

And as for someone who wants to feel Ukrainian in Ukraine and live in an independent state, for God's sake, do what you want. We must treat this with respect. But then don't threaten us.

And Sobchak spoke correctly at the time. Different people from different political spectrums of the country treat him differently. But he was a smart man, I can say this with absolute certainty, I worked with him for a long time. He correctly said: “If you want to leave, leave, but leave with what you came with.” And in 1645 or in 1654 there was no Ukraine at all. There are letters in the archive, they write to Warsaw: “We, Russian Orthodox people, demand that our rights be respected.” And they write to Moscow: “We, Russian Orthodox, ask to be accepted into the Russian kingdom.” Do you understand?

Yes, they gradually began to build up, give away territories, for some reason Vladimir Ilyich [Lenin] decided to give up the entire Black Sea region. From what, fright? Purely historically Russian lands. Of course, there was nothing of the kind connected with Ukraine, because there was nothing. In fact, Ukraine actually emerged in 1922, and was enshrined in the Constitution. Huge Russian territories were transferred there - just like that. Moreover, I already said something, I read papers from the archive and letters: they first made a decision, in my opinion, at the congress or at the Politburo, what, say, what was it called, Krivoy Rog, in my opinion?

Remark:  Donetsk.

Vladimir Putin:  The Donetsk Republic, yes, that it should be part of the RSFSR. Then the Bolsheviks arrived from those territories and said: “Why are you leaving us with some peasants?” That is, with the peasants, who were considered a petty-bourgeois element. Again we returned to where to transfer the Donbass, this Krivoy Rog Republic. People from Donbass arrived, and they said: “How is it, everything has already been decided that we are in Russia.” "Mother Russia" they wrote. Lenin tells them: "We must reconsider." Then theyy single-handedly took it over.

Are they really crazy, or what? Who asked the people at any point? There would have to be some kind of vote, a plebiscite - what is it otherwise? Okay, okay, they transferred it there, and then they took it, separated it. I don't know, I don't think this has ever happened in history. But okay, we are ready to live in such a paradigm. But they also began to create an "anti-Russia" there, they began to create threats. And the people do not want to live [as part of Ukraine], they are drawn to us. What, should we abandon these people? Here is the result.

And Ukraine, of course, what kind of Ukraine is there - there was nothing there, and there was no Ukraine. Ukraine emerged in 1922, as I said. Now the grateful inheritants are demolishing the monument to Lenin, the founder of Ukraine.

Sergei Zenin:  The people have been waiting for us and consider this to be Russia.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, of course.

Sergei Zenin:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, allow me to ask you two questions, rather acute ones, because a large number of people at the front are waiting for an answer to these questions. Both of them relate to the so-called private military companies, which seem to be de jure even banned in our country, they seem to not exist, but at the same time they are de facto present at the front. The guys fight with varying degrees of success, sometimes with very good results.

How to get rid of this legal or legal vacuum in order to return them to the legal field? You know, we communicate not only with commanders, but we also communicate with soldiers, with fighters - and there is a level of resentment.

Vladimir Putin:  I understand, yes. Here you are absolutely right. I asked both the deputies of the State Duma and the Ministry of Defense to bring everything in line with common sense, established practice and the law.

We certainly should not put people in any bad position. Firstly, everyone who is and in whatever capacity, is at the forefront, they are all defenders of the Fatherland and the Motherland must fully respond to their willingness to risk their lives or give their lives for the Motherland. Everyone should be on an equal footing. But for this, of course, it is necessary to make appropriate changes to the law. Now they are working on it.

As far as I know, the Ministry of Defense is now concluding contracts with everyone who wants to continue serving in the special military operation zone. This is the only way to ensure social guarantees, because if there is no contract with the state, if there is no contract with the Ministry of Defense, there are no legal grounds for social guarantees from the state. This needs to be done and done as soon as possible.

There are some nuances, I will not go into details now, something can be corrected in the law. Because today, by and large, in the legal sense, only private security structures are approaching these volunteer formations. But even then there are many things that need to be further adjusted.

So, the first thing to do is to conclude contracts with all voluntary associations, otherwise there will be no social guarantees from the state. And secondly, we need to make some changes to the law. Both will be done.

Sergei Zenin:  One more question about PMCs. A very strange story. On the one hand, these are often really heroic personalities. On the other hand, when they return to civilian life, everyone behaves differently. And there are situations when people – it’s no secret that there are people who got there from prison – return to the same path as before, behave the same way, commit offenses, and very different, and there are very serious offenses. And it turns out that these people cast a shadow on all the others who are still fighting there, who are shedding blood, despite the fact that they themselves also shed, but returned to the old.

How to separate the good from the bad in this particular situation? Although it seems to be the same PMC fighters.

Vladimir Putin:  You know, remember, Sholokhov’s Makar Nagulnov there [in the novel Virgin Soil Upturned], or something, he said: there once was a good communist - that’s all right, but there he, excuse me for the bad manners, he became ugly, which means he has become enemy to the revolution. Here, unfortunately, the same thing applies.

While a person is fighting - honor and praise to him, the state must do everything in order to fulfill its obligations to these people, and we are doing it. But it is necessary, indeed, for social guarantees - contracts must be signed with the state, this is an obvious thing, otherwise there will be no obligations on the part of the state and then [there will be] injustice against people who are at war. And they get it right away - I sign the decrees on pardons.

But, indeed, there are relapses. And then a person must answer to the fullest extent of the law, no matter what happens there. And so it was in the Great Patriotic War: if a person fought, fought - honor and praise was his, but if he committed an offense, he answered in the same way as all other citizens.

But what would you like to pay attention to? Look, in general, we have a relapse - if you do not take a special military operation, nothing - just a relapse among people who have served their sentences, returned to normal life, in some cases it reaches 40 percent. And of the participants in the SVO, there are relapses from those who were released - 0.4 percent.

Sergei Zenin:  The percentage is very small.

V. Putin:  Yes.

Sergei Zenin:  But it's still a fly in the ointment.

Vladimir Putin:  Well, this is life, it is complex and diverse. And there's nothing you can do about it, it dictates its harsh laws to us.

I repeat: recidivism is ten times lower than recidivism in general on this topic. This is inevitable, but the negative consequences are minimal.

Dmitry Kulko:  Mr President, one more thing about the counteroffensive.

V. Putin:  Yes.

D. Kulko:  Sooner or later, the Ukrainian counter-offensive will bog down, or rather, our guys will make it choke with heroic efforts. But it is obvious that no matter what losses Ukraine suffers, Western countries will continue to supply weapons.

Vladimir Putin:  Well, here it is a [open] question.

Dmitry Kulko:  In any case, the question is what's next? Will we prepare to repel a new offensive or will we go forward ourselves? And in that case, how far are we willing to go this time, to our new borders of Russia, or as far as it will go?

Vladimir Putin:  Dmitry Alexandrovich, I can only say this face to face. (Laughter) Well, in general, everything will depend on the potentials that will be formed at the end of this so-called counter-offensive. This is the key question.

I think that, understanding - I say this with good reason - understanding the catastrophic, catastrophic losses, the leadership, whatever it may be, has a head on its shoulders, and should think about what to do next. And we will see what the situation will be and, based on this, take further steps. We have plans of a different nature, depending on the situation that will develop when we consider it necessary to do something.

Dmitry Kulko:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, our guys are now burning up NATO equipment - nevertheless, regarding the supply of weapons for further…

Vladimir Putin:  Including the NATO ones. So I said: over 160 tanks, 360 infantry fighting vehicles [losses]. This is not all NATO - there even Soviet-made armored vehicles are destroyed. Both Bradleys and Leopards burn beautifully, as we expected. And, probably, they saw - there the ammunition inside the tanks [catches fire], everything scatters in different directions. I said: 25-30 percent of the supplied equipment has been destroyed.

Dmitry Kulko:  Mr Putin, now two countries are going to supply shells with depleted uranium. Today, information appeared in the American press that, following the UK, the United States will also make such deliveries. On the example of Serbia, we saw how they infect the earth, how they cripple people. It turns out that Ukraine will also pollute the territory of the Russian Federation with these munitions.

Are we not being forced in this case to act more quickly to be proactive? How are we going to respond to these challenges?

Vladimir Putin:  There is no need to be preemptive. We have a lot of such ammunition as well, with depleted uranium. And, if they use it, we also reserve the right to use the same ammunition. We have them in stock - we don't just use them.

Alexander Sladkov:  This is interesting.

Vladimir Putin:  No, to be honest, there is nothing interesting here, nothing good here. But if necessary, we are able to do it - I will say this, we are able to do it. We don't need to do that today.

Do you know what else is going on there? I already talked about it - it's no longer a secret. The Ukrainian army now spends more, probably, five or six thousand large-caliber shells, 155 millimeters. And in the United States, they produce 15,000 a month. 15 thousand per month is produced in the United States, and the Ukrainian army spends five to six thousand a day.

In the US, they plan to increase production. This is all in open sources, there is no secret here. At first they said - up to 75 thousand, now it seems a little more, I don’t know, somewhere around 75 thousand next year, at the end of next year. But if they spend five or six thousand... Now, I think, more, because in offensive operations the expenditure is higher.

They just don’t have [shells], but they have depleted uranium and they have them in warehouses. Apparently, they decided to submit this - what we have so far. Because everything was raked out of the warehouses, only South Korea and Israel remained, but not Israeli or South Korean, but American property. They can pick up from there and deliver [to Ukraine]. But that too will end soon. And with depleted uranium, apparently, there are arleady warehouses. The easiest. Because expanding production is more expensive for yourself.

They are forcing Europeans to expand production in the Czech Republic, somewhere else. But still, be that as it may, there are parliaments there. Well, they built a new plant, and then what? Where to put it? And there are also problems in healthcare, and transport, and education - there are many problems, and they are forced to build a plant for ammunition. And then what to do with it?

Therefore, everything is not so simple - taking into account the fact that economic problems are still growing. According to the IMF, the locomotive of the European economy is Germany, and recession is planned there, for the current year GDP is minus 0.7 percent. By the way, we have a plus, at least one and a half, or even under two, while the locomotive of the European economy has minus 0.7 and a recession. Inflation is rising. How much do we have? 2.3 percent, but I think it will reach five in a year - as the Central Bank predicts, probably. But this is good, too low inflation for us is not much of a gift, but this will be normal. But they have something there - more than seven, seven and a half. In the eurozone as a whole, it's about five, I don't remember now, but in the Federal Republic [Germany] it's 7.4 percent, I think. Unemployment is rising, and in Southern Europe it is generally prohibitive. And we have a minimum, a historical minimum.

So it's not so easy to produce everything there, and even more so to expand production, build new enterprises. It will come in handy for us, Russia has a special situation. We must build up armaments, we will have to, and we will accumulate strategic reserves in warehouses. And where are they going? Why the hell is the Czech Republic part of kind of strategic reserve? What will they do with it? Where will they put them? It is not so simple. Well, if they want to do so - please.

But then the Americans behave very pragmatically, and everything is done only in their own interests - they did not care about the interests of their allies. They have no allies, they only have vassals. And the vassals began to understand what role they were destined for. They, in fact, at the level of public consciousness do not like all this. Some of my friends tell me: the situation is like in the Soviet Union. I say: "How is it?". When at home, at the enterprise, in the office everyone sits and discusses Russia, when they come home to the kitchen, everything is different. Probably, these are people who sympathize with us, probably they also exaggerate something. But the trends exist.

Therefore, with depleted uranium, they simply have none [regular shells]. And they say that they will now produce them, we will produce this - well, let's see them do it. In a recession, things are not so simple. And then there are also opposition parties that use the situation - they broach the topic only in this way, they analyze the real situation in the economy. The margin of safety of the European, the American economy is very large. It's obvious, it's understandable. They are high-tech, the structure of the economy is very developed, it is powerful, but there are many problems.

Therefore, I think that this is precisely what dictated the desire to supply shells with depleted uranium. The cheapest way is to do nothing [not set up new shell production[. There are warehouses, they dropped them off there, and that's it. And what will happen here - they do not care about it. They behave like this everywhere. And what did they do in Yugoslavia? And what did they do in the same Syria or Iraq? They did the same thing - they want to spit on everything. They have nothing but their own interests, and the interests of their allies do not interest them at all.

And in the field of economics, they made decisions, lured enterprises to the territory of the United States from Europe. Everyone understands this, everyone sees it, but they can’t do anything. They took the order for nuclear submarines from the French. And what did they do? Nothing. Moreover, we know, they still whisper in the ear of the Americans: we must publicly declare, publicly quarrel with you - then we will quietly, crawl away, please don’t be angry with us. That's all. And the pipe is lower, and the smoke is thinner than in Russia. There is no passionarity, these are fading nations - that is the whole problem. We will fight for our interests and we will achieve our goals.

Dmitry Kulko:  Thank you.

Dmitry Steshin:  Dmitry Steshin, Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, a journalist on the front line does not always ask questions - he is often asked questions, because he seems to come from the big world.

Since October, the fighters began to ask me about the so-called grain deal. I could explain very little to them, I just understood that for them this was some kind of big irritant and a “blank spot”. I explained to them that this deal was also based on our interests - the export of products to the West, the interests of poor countries that should receive grain. But I understand that our interests in this deal are not respected, plus there are fears that weapons will be brought through security corridors, used to attack the Black Sea Fleet, and so on.

I'm essentially redirecting the soldiers’ question to you: Do we need this deal? And if our interests are not taken into account in it, maybe it is worth terminating it?

Vladimir Putin:  To be honest, this is an unexpected question for me, I did not expect to hear such a question. But, probably, for the guys who are fighting, it is not clear why we are releasing this grain. I understand, I agree.

You see, we are not doing this for Ukraine, we are doing this for our friendly countries in Africa and Latin America, because grain should go first of all to the poorest countries in the world. At the same time, we were promised that our grain would not be subjected to repressions, so to speak, that there would be no obstacles to its export. Unfortunately, we were once again deceived.

Nothing has been done to liberalize the supply of our grain to foreign markets. I mean freight, I mean insurance, I mean payments, I mean the connection of our Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system. There were many conditions that the Westerners had to fulfill under the leadership of the United Nations. Nothing has been done.

Nevertheless, we extended these agreements several times, I want to say again, in the interests of friendly countries. Everyone understands that this is also in our interests - to maintain good, good, trusting, stable relations with that part of the world that does not support the aggressive actions of the West and their satellites in Ukraine against Russia. This is our interest - to maintain good relations.

By the way, I don't know whether it was announced or not, now - in the near future - the arrival of the leaders of several African states in Russia is expected. We agreed to discuss current issues, for sure we will talk about this grain deal. First of all, we proceed from these considerations.

But it turns out that - I have already said this many times - out of the total amount of Ukrainian grain supplied, only a little over three percent went to the poorest countries in the world. There it fluctuates a little - it's 3.2-3.4, because depending on where the next dry cargo ship goes, a ship with grain, it changes a little, but in general, somewhere around three and a half percent. More than 40 percent goes to quite prosperous countries of the European Union. They are the main recipients of Ukrainian grain: it is cheaper, they get it, and they feel good, and Ukraine is paid money for it. Today, I can be wrong, but it seems to me that this is the main source of foreign exchange earnings for Ukraine.

Everything else has practically collapsed, I'm not talking about industry, everything has stopped there. I don't know what else they produce. There was agricultural production and the metallurgical industry, the pipe part. Metallurgical, since there is no electricity there, it stopped. Machine building stopped. Shipbuilding has long collapsed - even before the SMO. The aviation industry has collapsed - thanks to the SMO. Engine production collapsed.

The main sources of income were the metallurgical industry, which ceases to exist, and the agricultural products they export, in particular grain. We understand this, but we deliberately went for the grain deal, I repeat once again, in order to support developing countries, our friends, and in order to achieve the lifting of sanctions on our agricultural sector. We were deceived once again, as I said. This is the first point.

Secondly, as regards the countries of Africa, almost nothing comes to them either. Therefore, we are now thinking about how we can get out of this so-called grain deal. Moreover, these corridors, along which the ships go, are constantly used by the enemy to launch drones, naval drones.

I don’t know if the Ministry of Defense gave it or not: just yesterday or the day before yesterday, our ship, which was guarding the Turkish Stream, a gas pipeline that goes to Turkey, was attacked. Four semi-submerged drones. Three were destroyed, the fourth move was lost, and then he was finished off. Immediately after that, four more drones. At the same time, we saw, in the neutral zone, however, an unmanned strategic intelligence apparatus of the US strategic intelligence hung. Apparently, he corrected the actions of these drones.

The United States is more and more, almost directly, plunging into this conflict and causing serious international security crises, because correcting the actions of drones that attack our warship is still a serious thing. And they should know that we know about it. We're still thinking about what to do with it for the future, but in general, this is the situation.

So, as far as the grain deal is concerned, we are thinking about ending our participation there. This is the first point.

And the second point is the volume of grain that the poorest countries received - and this, I repeat, is a little over three percent - we will be ready to deliver to the poorest countries free of charge. But this needs to be discussed, including when our friends arrive from African states – soon, very soon. I will also advise them on how to proceed.

Dmitry Steshin:  Thank you very much.

Mikhail Gazdiev:  Mr President!

Murad Gazdiev, RT channel.

Firstly, our editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan asked you to pass on a letter. She did a lot so that we could get together like this, both officially and unofficially.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I have a few questions. Taking into account the fact that, as you said, you are not going to reveal to us all your plans, nevertheless, for a peaceful settlement. Everyone - except Russia and Ukraine - has their own vision of how to resolve this conflict.

Vladimir Putin:  Why? You are wrong. Why did you say “except Russia and Ukraine”? We also have plans [to negotiate]. Moreover, we agreed in Istanbul, and I don’t remember his last name, I can be mistaken, therefore, I beg your pardon, in my opinion, Mr. Arakhamia headed the negotiating group from the Ukrainian side in Istanbul. He even initialed this document.

M. Gazdiev:  But apart from Russia and Ukraine, other countries also have their own vision of how to resolve this conflict.

Vladimir Putin:  Ah, I beg your pardon, I’m sorry. Yes.

M. Gazdiev:  The United States, the Europeans, but it's like the United States, Saudi Arabia, even African countries have now come out and said they are ready to become a mediator in order to help resolve this conflict. It is clear that all of them, in addition to the world, also pursue some of their own interests.

The question is, Vladimir Vladimirovich: which of these options are you leaning towards? Are you leaning towards one at all? And is there anyone to negotiate with and is it necessary?

Vladimir Putin:  First of all, we have never refused – I have already said this a thousand times – we have never refused to conduct any negotiations that could lead to a peaceful settlement. We've always talked about it. Moreover, during the negotiations in Istanbul, we initialed this document, argued for a long, long time, butted heads there and so on, but the document is so thick, and it was initialed: on our part by Medinsky, on their part by their leader of the negotiating group , in my opinion, this is Mr. Arakhamia, I don’t remember exactly, if I’m not mistaken, his last name. They signed it. They just threw it away afterwards, that's all. This is the first point.

Second. You said the Europeans have their own approach, the Americans have their own approach. There they have, you know, everything is like a joke - between Europeans and Americans. Point one: Americans are always right. Point two: if the Americans are wrong, see point one. Therefore, there is no one to talk to [among. the Europeans].

But in general, the Western approach is such that it is necessary to adhere to the interests of Ukraine, we know. But the interests of Ukraine - there is point three: if the interests of Ukraine diverge from point two, see point one, because in the end it is the interests of the United States. And we understand that the key to solving problems is on their side. If they really want to end today's conflict with the help of negotiations, they only need to make one decision: to stop the supply of weapons and equipment - that's it. Ukraine itself does not produce anything. Tomorrow they will want to negotiate not formally, but in essence, and not to put before us ultimatums, but to return to what was agreed upon, say, in Istanbul, for example.

Incidentally, the issues of Ukraine's security are spelled out in great detail there. And, in fact, there are so many things - we had to think more: to agree with something - to disagree. But in general, I repeat, we signed from both sides.

Therefore, if they want to return, please, we are ready to talk to them. But for now, they want to achieve the defeat of Russia and success in the course of the counteroffensive operation. How this progresses, this counter-offensive operation, I have already reported to you.

Mikhail Gazdiev:  Vladimir Vladimirovich, you say that they just need to stop this flow of weapons that is going to Ukraine, but they are not doing this. They do the opposite: first there were tanks, then depleted uranium.

Vladimir Putin:  There is no depleted uranium yet.

M. Gazdiev:  From the UK, yes. Nevertheless, we already see articles in various neo-conservative organizations - there was such an uproar - tactical nuclear weapons should be transferred to Ukraine. The question is: isn't the US afraid of this constant escalation?

Vladimir Putin:  They pretend not to be afraid. In fact, there are a lot of people with a healthy head, and they clearly do not want to lead the case to a third world war in which there will be no winners, including no winners in the form of the United States.

Irina Kuksenkova: If you don't mind, I have one more question about space, or rather, about space exploration.

Vladimir Putin:  We need to finish.

Irina Kuksenkova: Yes, of course. In the interests of the enemy, according to open data, up to 100 satellites are working - namely, military satellites that see our troops and movements. Our cosmic grouping is inferior.

V. Putin:  Yes.

Irina Kuksenkova: What to do about it and how to deal with it, because this is systemic, right, it takes years?

Vladimir Putin:  Of course, there is no secret here. In previous years, we should have built our space activities in a different way - of course. But we didn’t plan – you know, but I think it will be clear – we didn’t plan any Crimean events, we didn’t plan the events that are taking place now.

I have said many times - and during our meeting today - we are trying to stop this armed conflict. Unfortunately, we were forced to do it by force of arms, but we didn't start it. And these are all long-term projects: they are planned for years ahead, and then they are implemented and implemented as we planned five to seven years ago. But now we are making adjustments. Quite recently, you know, one spacecraft has already been launched. We will build up our grouping.

Incidentally, Russia ranks fifth in the world in space constellation. So in general we have a good grouping.

Irina Kuksenkova: We are at war with the first one.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, of course. You need to configure this work accordingly. We will, of course, do this. But for now, we need something to replace it. How? Various purpose unmanned aerial vehicles. Here, the colleague is right: we need to build up a variety of drones, both strike and reconnaissance, but this takes time.

I agree, you are right, we should do it.

Dmitry Zimenkin:  Dmitry Zimenkin, Izvestia, REN TV.

Alexander Valeryevich [Sladkov], thank you for the chance, and thank you for listening. Because the problem that is heard in the trenches, including from the wives of the fighters, I think is important: the lack of official status for the soldiers.

Just three examples. Belgorod region, border guards, department of mobile operations, which countered the Beolgorod incursion - even before the arrival of the Ministry of Defense.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, of course.

D. Zimenkin:  The Luhansk policemen who fought in the Kharkiv region that year do not have it [the status of a participant in hostilities], or now their colleagues from the Kaskad OBTF in the DPR are in the same position.

And today I got a call from a field medic. He has been there for four months, behind the tape ...

Vladimir Putin:  Behind the ribbon?

Dmitry Zimenkin:  Behind the ribbon, that is, he is fighting. 70 people have already been pulled out of the battlefield, four shell shocks, after the fourth one already stutters - I can hear [in his voice]. He is assigned to military unit No. 31135 and it seems that he was not in the fight [officially]. He cannot even receive an order.

Vladimir Putin:  I don't understand why?

Dmitry Zimenkin:  He says that it is as he were not in the war. I don't know what's the problem there. This is what he told me personally.

Remark:  They are not [official] participants.

Dmitry Zimenkin:  Yes, they are not [officially] participants.

A.Kots:  It does not appear that he is in the SMO zone. He is listed as if he is at a point of permanent deployment.

Reply: I  have the same question with the border guards.

Dmitry Zimenkin:  These nuances can be clarified. Unfair, I think. And the point is not in the allowances - they are not great, but in something else.

Vladimir Putin:  Good. Dmitry Sergeevich, I have already heard that there were questions of this kind. I made a note for myself, I remembered.

I know that Bortnikov and I are asking these questions, and Kolokoltsov is asking these questions. That something similar is happening with military doctors - I hear about this for the first time, but I will definitely look. It's just a technical problem, so you're in the right place. If a military medic, actually fights for a ribbon, I don’t really understand what is happening there. I'll find out. Where is it exactly?

D. Zimenkin:  He is listed in the Belgorod region, and he fought near Svatovo. We personally filmed him.

Vladimir Putin:  You will write to me.

Dmitry Zimenkin:  Yes, we will write to you now.

Vladimir Putin:  To give a concrete example.

And all the other categories of military personnel, especially true border guards, and police officers too. Of course, this needs to be considered.

I understand that you are right, and the heads of these departments raised these questions. I instructed the Security Council, they are now preparing proposals.

Mikhail Gazdiev: What is happening is not in the liberated territories, not in the new territories, but in Russia [proper].

Our fighters very often manage to read the news even on the front line, and, to put it mildly, they are indignant when they see another scandal about how a civil servant or a teacher at a university almost openly propagandizes young people to support a pro-Ukrainian position. That is, all these people, by and large, are not afraid, and fines do not frighten them.

Clearly, you have already brought this up, that we will not act like the Ukrainian regime: a bag over the head and the person disappears forever. But given the fact that we are not like them, we are fighting against them, isn't it a betrayal of our values, that we leave the situation to itself like this?

Vladimir Putin:  If we leave it to chance, then it is almost a betrayal. This is the first point.

Second. In my opinion, here Semyon [Pegov] spoke about the need to move the guys, especially those who have proven themselves well during the hostilities, they need to be moved up the hierarchical ladder within the Armed Forces. But not only: they can be moved to law enforcement agencies, special services. It is necessary to look for such people - with their consciousness and their understanding of justice - and entrust them with investigations in relation to those scoundrels about whom you spoke.

Just as we instructed the investigation committee of Chechnya to investigate the crime of public destruction of the Koran. And [N. Zhuravel] will serve his sentence, as stated by the Minister of Justice, in places of deprivation of liberty located in one of the regions of the Russian Federation with a predominantly Muslim population.

So, in relation to these scoundrels, about whom you spoke, something exemplary must also be thought up. You are absolutely correct in asking the question. I'll think about it.

M. Gazdiev:  Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin:  Thank you very much for your question.

M. Gazdiev:  If possible, I will pass the letter on to the guys, comrades from the FSO.

Vladimir Putin:  Yes, of course.

Thank you very much.