About the war in Ukraine
According to Putin, Russian troops are daily “advancing along the entire line of combat contact” and over the past month they have taken control of 2.4 thousand km² (it seems that the Russian General Staff again did not report everything to him and mixed up something).
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In particular, Putin is confident that Russia has completely taken control of the Lugansk region (in his dictionary – “the territory of the “LPR”) and over 85% of Donetsk, as well as 80% of Zaporozhye. The latter statement has already been commented on by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, noting that the Russians, as always, are trying to wishful thinking and, “perhaps Putin and his generals know mathematics very poorly.” Separately, they recalled that the Russian Federation failed capture Malaya Tokmachka.
Putin also said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine “are catastrophically short of personnel” and the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has allegedly decreased by 100 thousand people recently. He did not mention the problems and losses of the Russian army.
In addition, Putin boasted that Ukraine does not have such strike systems as Russia – “hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles, both sea-based, air-based, and ground-based,” and also stated that Russia has an air defense system, but Ukraine does not. This sounded especially ironic in St. Petersburg, whose air defense the Ukrainian Armed Forces just tested yesterday. According to Putin, this allegedly happened because the West supplies Ukraine with a lot of drones and “some of them break through” (Tuapse is probably offended now).
About peace in Ukraine and meeting with Zelensky
Putin again demonstrated that he is not going to end the war – he said that supposedly the Ukrainian authorities are “not ready for a settlement” and “are not interested in a real cessation of hostilities.”
At the same time, he claims that he wants to come to an agreement with Ukraine “by peaceful means based on Anchorage” (that is, probably by receiving the entire Donbass without a fight). According to him, Russia agrees to make “the compromises that we talked about in Anchorage,” but Ukraine needs to agree with them.
He also stated that Russia’s plans to “control the entire Donbass” and “make a deal” allegedly do not contradict each other.
When asked what he would say to Zelensky at the meeting (which Putin avoids in every possible way), he replied: “At a minimum, one could and should say: “Thank God it’s all over.”
About “Oreshnik”
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Putin found an explanation for why the Oreshnik experimental ballistic missile was fired at garages in Bila Tserkva, and admitted that the Russian Federation then also struck the territory it occupied in the Donetsk region.
According to Putin, there has not been a single combat use of Oreshnik in Ukraine “in the full sense of the word.” He stated that the Russian Federation hit “the barn” specifically to “see how the blocks fell” (the missile has six main combat elements, each of which is further divided into submunitions. According to Defense Express, the missile that hit Bila Tserkva used heavy metal blocks instead of explosive warheads).
At the same time, Putin told reporters that he was revealing to them “a big, big military state secret.” But he only revealed what everyone already knows – that his Ministry of Defense, which told how Oreshnik and other missiles that day hit exclusively “facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and control centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” and not residential buildings and museums, was blatantly lying.
Putin also threatened the future “full-format” use of Oreshnik against targets, including in urban areas.
About Armenia
Putin again called on Armenia to hold a referendum on joining the EU as soon as possible (Armenia has already explained that it is pointless to do this in the near future).
And he added that in the future he would like the standards of the EAEU and the EU to coincide, but now this is impossible. “And then it would be a really big, huge economic space, as de Gaulle once said, from Lisbon to the Urals, he said, but in fact to Vladivostok,” Putin said.
About the new term
Putin said that the Russian constitution allows him to run again for the post of head of state in 2030, but it is now “very early to talk about it” and he allegedly “does not think about it.”
According to him, now he “needs to resolve the issues facing the country.”
“Only the Lord knows whether we will be healthy enough,” he said.
Putin has effectively ruled Russia since 2000. From 2008 to 2012, he formally ceded the presidency to Dmitry Medvedev, and he himself headed the government. This was necessary to circumvent the restrictions of the Russian constitution, which then did not allow one person to serve as president for more than two terms in a row – but in 2020, Putin corrected this annoying obstacle.
About the Russian economy
“As for the economy, as Mark Twain said, “rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Putin responded with his favorite quote when asked whether the Russian economy would survive the current situation.
In his opinion, everything is great in the Russian economy: industrial production and real incomes of the population of the Russian Federation are growing, the economy is “confidently returning to target indicators,” Russia “has exceeded the target of reducing poverty ahead of schedule.”
“We deliberately set out to cool the economy. We don’t want hyperinflation. We are fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole… All this gives us reason to believe that we are on the right path and feel confident,” Putin said.
About the attack on NATO
Putin called “nonsense” the assumption that the Russian Federation could attack one of the NATO countries.
“Anyone who is afraid of a Russian attack on NATO must ask themselves: ‘Why?’” he said.
In his opinion, this is “not only nonsense, but also provocation and disinformation” on the part of politicians who in this way allegedly want to scare their own population. “It would be funny if it weren’t so sad,” Putin said.
We've heard all this before somewhere.
Putin bingo
Yes, if anyone doubted it, all of Putin’s favorite theses were there too. “Coup d’etat in Ukraine,” “suppression of everything Russian,” “NATO expansion,” “Russia was deceived.” But the matter was not limited to the traditional “cough-cough” – a whole Moscow Art Theater pause formed in the speech about Ukraine.
