On Monday, February 21, in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. In addition, agreements were signed with the DPR and LPR on friendship and mutual assistance. This was preceded by a large, programmatic televised address by the head of state to the Russians, in which he explained his decision in detail, and a discussion of the situation with members of the Security Council. Today, the State Duma and the Federation Council are ready to promptly ratify the treaties with the LPR and the DPR.

"Those who embarked on the path of bloodshed, violence, lawlessness did not recognize and do not recognize any other decision of the Donbass, except for the military one. In this regard, I consider it necessary to make a long overdue decision - to immediately recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR," Vladimir Putin said. He asked the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decision, and then to ratify the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with both republics. "These two documents will be prepared and signed in the very near future," he said. Putin also called on the Ukrainian authorities to immediately stop hostilities in the Donbass, otherwise Kiev will be fully responsible for the possible continuation of the bloodshed.

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Ukraine: From Lenin's decision to a coup d'etat

The President began his address by saying that the situation in Donbas has again acquired a critical, acute character. Putin also stressed that this appeal is not only to the Russians, but also to compatriots in Ukraine, which is not just a neighboring country for us. "She is an integral part of our own history, culture, spiritual space. These are our comrades, relatives, including not only colleagues, friends, former colleagues, but also relatives, people connected with us by blood, family ties," he stressed.

Putin recalled the history of the formation of modern Ukraine. The President noted that it was entirely created by the Bolshevik, communist Russia. “This process began almost immediately after the revolution of 1917, and his associates did this, naturally, in a rude way towards Russia itself, by tearing away from it part of its own historical territories. The millions of people who lived there, of course, no one asked about anything," Putin said. "As a result of the Bolshevik policy, Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called the Ukraine named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin," he believes. The President pointed out that this is fully and completely confirmed by archival documents, including Lenin's directives on Donbass, "which was literally squeezed into Ukraine."

On the eve and after the Great Patriotic War, Joseph Stalin already annexed to the USSR and transferred to Ukraine some lands that used to belong to Poland, Romania and Hungary, Putin recalled. As compensation, Stalin endowed Poland with part of the original German territories. “And in 1954, Khrushchev for some reason took away Crimea from Russia and also gave it to Ukraine. Actually, the territory of Soviet Ukraine was formed in this way,” the president noted.

Putin noted that "now" grateful "descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. "This is what they call decommunization. Do you want decommunization? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is not necessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what true decommunization means for Ukraine," the president said.

Putin stressed that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has always cooperated with Ukraine openly, honestly and with respect for its interests. "Our ties in various fields have been developing," he said. In total, the total benefit for the Ukrainian budget from various Russian assistance in 1991-2013 amounted, according to expert estimates, to about $250 billion, the President of the Russian Federation said.

But stable statehood in Ukraine did not work out. "And the political electoral procedures serve only as a cover, a screen for the redistribution of power between various oligarchic clans," Putin said. "It is important to understand that Ukraine, in fact, has never had a stable tradition of its true statehood and since 1991 has taken the path of mechanical tracing of foreign models, divorced from both history and Ukrainian realities," the head of state said. He added that political and state institutions were constantly being reshaped to suit rapidly emerging clans with their own selfish interests that had nothing to do with the interests of the people of Ukraine.The President added that Kiev had been trying for a long time to use the dialogue with Russia as a pretext for bargaining with the West. "They blackmailed him with rapprochement with Moscow, knocking out preferences for themselves. They say, otherwise Russian influence in Ukraine will grow," Putin said. According to the head of state, the Ukrainian authorities initially began to build their statehood on the denial of everything that unites the two countries, "sought to distort the consciousness, the historical memory of millions of people, entire generations living in Ukraine." "It is not surprising that Ukrainian society is faced with the growth of extreme nationalism, which quickly took the form of aggressive Russophobia and neo-Nazism. Hence the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in terrorist gangs in the North Caucasus, and the increasingly louder territorial claims against Russia," the president noted.

Speaking about the events in Ukraine in 2014, Putin stressed that the radicals who seized power in Ukraine organized a persecution, a real terror against those who opposed anti-constitutional actions. "Politicians, journalists, public figures were mocked, they were publicly humiliated. Ukrainian cities were swept by a wave of pogroms and violence, a series of high-profile and unpunished murders," Putin said. “It is impossible to recall without shudder the terrible tragedy in Odessa, where participants in a peaceful protest rally were brutally killed, burned alive in the House of Trade Unions. The criminals who committed this atrocity are not punished, no one is looking for them, but we know their names and will do everything in order to punish them: find them and bring them to justice,” the head of state added.

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"Russia has every right to take retaliatory measures"

Putin noted that since 2014 presidents have been changing in Ukraine, but the nationalist regime has not changed, he, according to him, is a product of the 2014 coup. According to the president, "the ruling elite in Kiev constantly declares its unwillingness to implement the Minsk package of measuresolve the conflict" and is not interested in a peaceful resolution of the situation.

Now the country is actually under external control. "The question arises: poverty, hopelessness, the loss of industrial and technological potential - is this the very pro-Western civilizational choice that has been fooling millions of people for many years, promising them paradise?" Putin asked. “In fact, it all came down to the fact that the collapse of the Ukrainian economy is accompanied by outright robbery of the citizens of the country. And Ukraine itself was simply driven under external control, it is carried out not only at the behest of Western capitals, but also, as they say, directly on the spot through a whole network of foreign advisers, NGOs and other institutions deployed in Ukraine," the President of Russia emphasized. They, according to him, "have a direct impact on all the most important personnel decisions, on all branches and levels of government, from the central and even to the municipal, on the main state-owned companies and corporations, including Naftogaz, Ukrenergo, Ukrainian Railways" , "Ukrooboronprom", "Ukrpochta", the Administration of the seaports of Ukraine".

It is impossible to recall without a shudder the terrible tragedy in Odessa, where participants in a peaceful protest rally were brutally murdered, burned alive in the House of Trade Unions

“The command and control systems of the Ukrainian troops are already integrated with those of NATO,” Putin said. “This means that the command of the Ukrainian armed forces, even individual units and subunits, can be directly carried out from NATO headquarters. The United States and NATO have begun shamelessly developing the territory of Ukraine as a theater of potential military action."

The President noted that Ukraine's entry into NATO and the deployment of weapons on this territory is a settled issue. And this means that the possibilities of a surprise strike against Russia are expanding. Putin said that NATO is completely ignoring Russia's warnings and protests regarding the advancement of the alliance's military infrastructure and equipment to Russian borders. "Just as they did repeatedly in past years, expanding NATO to the east, pushing military infrastructure and equipment to the Russian borders, completely ignoring our concerns, protests and warnings. Sorry - they just "spit" on them and did whatever they wanted, what considered necessary," Putin said. He stressed that the European security crisis happened because of the expansion of NATO, because mutual trust was lost. And Russia will not give up its national sovereignty and values. Russia has every right to take measures to ensure its security after the US and NATO ignored its proposals, Putin is sure. “I want to say clearly and directly: in the current situation, when our proposals for an equal dialogue on fundamental issues have practically gone unanswered by the United States and NATO, when the level of threats to our country is significantly increasing, Russia has every right to take retaliatory measures to ensure its own security. ", - Putin said and added that this is exactly what the country will do.Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news »

Security Council: decide what to do next

Before addressing the citizens, Vladimir Putin held an unprecedented meeting of the Security Council. It was completely open and devoted to discussing the situation in the Donbass and the possibility of recognizing the sovereignty of the DNR and LNR. Members of the Security Council - and this is actually the entire current government of Russia - the prime minister, speakers of the chambers of parliament, key ministers - spoke in favor of recognizing the independence of these republics.

Earlier, the leaders of the DPR and LPR addressed the president with a request to recognize the republics. "On behalf of all the people of the Donetsk People's Republic, we ask you to recognize the Donetsk People's Republic as an independent, democratic, legal, social state," said Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR. "In order to prevent the mass death of the civilian population of the republic, 300,000 of whom are citizens of Russia, I ask you to recognize the sovereignty and independence of the Lugansk People's Republic," Leonid Pasechnik, head of the LPR, addressed the Russian president. The authorities of these republics asked to consider the possibility of concluding an agreement on friendship and cooperation between them and Russia, including cooperation in the field of defense.

Vladimir Putin noted that he did not specifically discuss the issue of recognizing the DPR and LPR with members of the Security Council in advance. "What is happening now is happening from scratch, because I wanted to know your opinion without any prior preparation. I consider this extremely important," he warned. Putin recalled that after the coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014, part of the population of this country did not accept the forceful seizure of power. "And this concerned those people who lived in Crimea, and this concerned those who lived and live in the Donbass," he said. People declared that they form two independent republics - the DPR and the LPR. And from that moment, according to the Russian president, the confrontation between the Kiev authorities and the people began. “All these years, I want to emphasize this, the people who live in these territories were actually mocked: constant shelling, blockade. As you know, people living in territories close to the so-called front line were generally forced to move to basements and live there themselves with their children," Putin said.

The Russian president stressed that Russia initially did everything to peacefully resolve all the contradictions in the situation with the Donbass, but the Kiev authorities twice carried out military punitive operations in these territories. "And, apparently, we are witnessing the aggravation of the situation for the third time," the president said. Putin stressed that the current Kiev authorities are not going to implement the Minsk package of measures: they have already publicly stated this many times - both at the highest state level, and at the level of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Security Council. "Russia has made and is still making efforts to resolve all the difficult, tragic moments in the development of events by peaceful means," Putin stressed. "Ultimately, we must decide what we will do next and how we should act, based on the situation that is developing today, and based on our assessments of its development," the president added.

The use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with our country, with Russia, of course, poses a serious, very big threat to us

All these issues are closely related to the global problems of ensuring security in the world in general and on the European continent in particular, Putin noted. That is why Russia has stepped up work with the US and NATO on the issue of providing security guarantees in order to reach an agreement and ensure the country's peaceful development in peaceful conditions, the Russian President said. "The use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with our country, with Russia, of course, poses a serious, very big threat to us," Putin stressed.

The President again noted that if Russia faces such a threat as the admission of Ukraine to NATO, then the threats to our country will increase many times over. "Since no one recognizes the will of the Crimeans and Sevastopol residents, Ukraine insists that this is its territory, we have a real threat that they will start to win back this, as they consider, their territory by military means," Putin explained and added that " then the entire North Atlantic bloc will be obliged to join in these events.

Putin noted that some NATO countries are against Ukraine becoming a member of the alliance, but in 2008 a memorandum was signed in Bucharest, which opens the door for Ukraine and Georgia to this organization. "There is no answer to my question, why did you do this. Under pressure from the United States - this is the answer. But if they took one step under pressure from the United States, then we have no guarantees that they will not take a second step under pressure," - Putin said.Back to news »

Minsk agreements: Kiev is not going to fulfill

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whom Putin asked to speak on this issue, said that the West stands to death on the inadmissibility of weakening NATO's "open door" policy. Putin, in turn, said that Macron spoke about the change in the American position on European security. "He assures that there are some changes in the American position. But, unfortunately, he could not answer the question of what they are," the head of state noted. According to Putin, first you need to understand what these changes, if any, are.

Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak spoke about the course of negotiations on the implementation of the Minsk agreements. In his opinion, they are "at the zero mark of 2015." He stated that Ukraine on the go invents schemes for Donbass from the field of legal cretinism. So, according to him, the provisions of the Minsk agreements that changes to the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the status of Donbass must be agreed with the DPR and LPR are ignored by Kiev. Kozak believes that Ukrainian representatives in the negotiation halls whisper their commitment to the Minsk agreements, while publicly stating that they are unacceptable.

According to Kozak, neither the Ukrainian authorities nor their Western allies benefit from a political settlement of the situation in Donbass. “Neither Ukraine nor the West needs Donbass, they don’t need a settlement of the conflict, they need its freezing. Any hypothetical question, as they see it, in order to return Donbass to Ukraine under any conditions, under the control of the government of Ukraine, it causes a stupor in them, they don’t understand how to answer it. They just keep silent and lower their eyes,” the deputy head of the presidential administration noted.

People living in territories close to the so-called front line were generally forced to move to basements and live there themselves with their children

To a direct question from Vladimir Putin: "Tell me and your colleagues your opinion. Will the Kiev authorities comply with the Minsk agreements or not?" "I repeat once again: it is obvious that they do not want either Minsk or without Minsk, they do not want to return Donbass to Ukraine," Kozak replied.

Now more than 68 thousand residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics arrived in Russia as of Monday morning due to the aggravation of the situation in these regions, said FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov. "We see how the situation is degrading on the territory of two republics, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. The number of shelling has increased there, primarily in such a way that it poses a threat to the lives of the civilian population. Given this circumstance, refugees began to move towards the borders of Russia," he said. is he. The director of the FSB also said that the border guards, together with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, destroyed two sabotage groups of the Ukrainian military on the border with Russia, one of its members was captured. “In principle, the situation on the border is stable from our side, we are monitoring it, and through the efforts of the military component, including through the border service, we are working together with law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,” he added.

bbabo.Net