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Putin’s state of the nation speech: What exactly did he say?

President Putin blames the West and Ukraine for the war he ordered a year ago.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has delivered a state of the nation speech in the Russian capital, Moscow, assessing the invasion of Ukraine he ordered a year ago.

Here are highlights from his address delivered on Tuesday to members of both houses of parliament, military commanders and soldiers:

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Blinken meets wang yi, warns against helping russia in ukraine, russia-ukraine war: list of key events, day 361, russia again accuses ukraine of planning ‘false flag’ attack, ‘russia is suspending its participation’ in the new start treaty.

“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty.”

The New START treaty was signed in Prague in 2010. It came into force the following year and was extended in 2021 for five more years after United States President Joe Biden took office.

It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the planet many times over.

‘A watershed moment for our country’

“I am making this address at a time which we all know is a difficult, watershed moment for our country, a time of cardinal, irreversible changes around the world, the most important historic events that will shape the future of our country and our people, when each of us bears a colossal responsibility.”

Western nations trying to ‘distract people’s attention’

“They just tried to use these principles of democracy and freedom to defend their totalitarian values and they tried to distract people’s attention from corruption scandals … from economic-social problems.”

‘Responsibility is on West and Ukrainian elite’

“The responsibility is on the West and the Ukrainian elite and government, which does not serve the national interest, but [rather serves the interest] of third countries [which] use Ukraine as a military base to fight Russia.

“The more they send weapons to Ukraine, the more we will have the responsibility of the security situation at the Russian border. This is a natural response.”

‘We don’t fight the Ukrainian people’

“We don’t fight with the Ukrainian people. They became hostages of the Kyiv regime that occupied Ukraine both economically and politically. Over years, they were doing everything to bring this degradation … They are using their people, it’s sad but true.”

Donbas subjected to ‘undisguised hatred’

“Step by step, carefully and consistently, we will resolve the tasks facing us. Since 2014, the (people of the) Donbas had been fighting, defending their right to live on their own land, to speak their native language.

“They fought and did not give up in the conditions of blockade and constant shelling, undisguised hatred on the part of the Kyiv regime. They believed and expected that Russia would come to their rescue.

“Meanwhile, we did our best to solve this problem by peaceful means. We patiently tried to negotiate a peaceful way out of this most difficult conflict, but a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs.”

‘Reviving enterprises and jobs’ in occupied Ukrainian lands

“We have already begun and will continue to build up a large-scale programme for the socioeconomic recovery and development of these new subjects of the federation (territory annexed from Ukraine). We are talking about reviving enterprises and jobs in the ports of the Sea of Azov, which has again become an inland sea of Russia, and building new modern roads, as we did in Crimea.”

‘I understand how unbearably hard it is’ for families of killed soldiers

Putin said he understood how difficult it was for relatives of Russian soldiers who had died fighting in Ukraine, and promised “targeted support” with a new special fund.

“We all understand, I understand how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who raised worthy defenders of the Fatherland.”

‘Child abuse all the way up to paedophilia … advertised as the norm’ in the West

“They distort historical facts and constantly attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church, and other traditional religions of our country,” Putin said of Western nations supporting Ukraine.

“As it became known, the Anglican Church plans to consider the idea of a gender-neutral God … Millions of people in the West understand they are being led to a real spiritual catastrophe.

“Look at what they do to their own people: the destruction of families, of cultural and national identities and the perversion that is child abuse all the way up to paedophilia, are advertised as the norm … and priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages.”

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Five Takeaways From Putin’s Marathon Annual News Conference

The Russian leader suggested that Western support for Ukraine was drying up and also gave his first comments about Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter detained in Russia.

By Valerie Hopkins and Anton Troianovski

Valerie Hopkins reported from Moscow and Anton Troianovski from Berlin.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spent more than four hours on Thursday answering questions at his year-end news conference, resuming an annual tradition at a critical moment for his war in Ukraine.

Russian forces are now attacking on several areas of the front line after fending off a Ukrainian counteroffensive, and there are signs that U.S. support for Ukraine is waning as a new aid package stalls in Congress.

Here are five takeaways from the news conference in Moscow, which was tightly controlled but gave some reporters a rare chance to pose direct questions.

The Russian leader’s confidence was on full display.

Mr. Putin said his goals in Ukraine had not changed: the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country. Those are the same vague and unfounded justifications that he used as he launched the invasion nearly two years ago, but Mr. Putin now finds himself in a position of relative strength.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, left empty-handed after traveling to Washington this week to press lawmakers to approve more aid — and Mr. Putin made clear that he thinks Western military support for Kyiv is running dry. Ukraine has been “getting everything as freebies,” he said. “But these freebies can run out at some point, and it looks like they’re already starting to run out.”

While the Russian leader reiterated that he was open to peace talks, he offered no hint of a willingness to compromise. “Peace will come when we achieve our goals,” Mr. Putin said.

Putin is open to a ‘deal’ to release two Americans detained in Russia.

For the first time, Mr. Putin commented on Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal who was detained in March on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government have vehemently denied. Analysts have said that Mr. Gershkovich’s best hope of being released is through a prisoner exchange.

“We want to make a deal, but it should be mutually acceptable to both sides,” Mr. Putin said, referring to Mr. Gershkovich and to Paul Whelan, a former Marine and corporate executive who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges that the United States has also called politically motivated.

The Russian government is engaged in a “difficult” dialogue with the U.S. authorities over the possible release of the two men, Mr. Putin said.

Russia in Dialogue With U.S. on Detained Americans, Putin Says

Mr. putin described talks with u.s. officials over two detained americans, evan gershkovich, a reporter for the wall street journal, and paul whelan, a former marine and corporate executive, as “difficult.”.

My colleague, the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich has been held in Lefortovo Prison without a trial for 37 weeks. His detention was today, again, the extension on his detention was today, again, upheld. Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen, has been in prison for nearly five years. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, which considers both men wrongfully detained, recently said that Moscow had rejected what it called a substantial offer to return both of them to the United States. Is that true? What will it take to bring them home?

Russia’s ballooning inflation is a source of concern.

Despite a flurry of international sanctions, Russia’s economy has regained its prewar size and is expected to grow by about 3 percent this year, as a significant increase in military spending stimulates production, while labor shortages force wages to rise.

But record state spending has come at a cost: Inflation has climbed sharply since the spring, and Mr. Putin acknowledged on Thursday that it could reach 8 percent this year. Reflecting the public anxiety about prices, one person asked the Russian leader what he planned to do about the rapidly rising cost of eggs. Mr. Putin responded with an off-color joke, before apologizing for his government not having come to grips with the problem.

With the war in Gaza, Putin sees an opportunity.

Amid international condemnation of the enormous civilian toll from Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Mr. Putin sought to make a distinction between the actions of the Russian military and those of Israeli forces, an argument he has been leveraging to try to discredit the West and garner sympathy.

“Look at the special military operation” — his term for the war in Ukraine — “and look at what’s happening in Gaza, and feel the difference,” Mr. Putin said. “Nothing of the sort is happening in Ukraine.” (In fact, Russia’s invasion has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians .)

Mr. Putin also attempted to counter Western efforts to turn Russia into a global pariah over the invasion. “In many cities in Europe and the U.S., not to mention other world regions, a lot of people think that we are doing everything right,” he said.

Still, he predicted that relations with the United States could someday improve. “As for the United States, we are ready to build relations with them,” he said. “We believe that the world needs the U.S.”

With an election looming, Putin didn’t seem inclined to campaign.

Russia’s presidential election was barely mentioned, suggesting that Mr. Putin may view the outcome of the race as a foregone conclusion. With the political system under his firm control, Mr. Putin is widely expected to win another six-year term in the election in March.

One journalist at the news conference expressed support for Mr. Putin’s candidacy, telling the Russian leader that “you’re in power as long as I can remember myself.”

Ivan Nechepurenko and Anatoly Kurmanaev contributed reporting.

Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow. More about Valerie Hopkins

Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. More about Anton Troianovski

Russian President Putin Statement on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a Security Council meeting that Russia would recognize the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

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Putin blames Ukraine war on west in near two-hour Moscow speech – video highlights

The Russian president Vladimir Putin has given a televised national address to the joint houses of the Russian parliament, in which he blamed the west for starting the war in Ukraine. Putin said the west had begun 'not just a military and information, but an economic, aggression' against Russia. He also announced he was suspending the country's participation in a nuclear treaty with the US

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Source: Reuters

Tue 21 Feb 2023 15.27 GMT Last modified on Wed 22 Feb 2023 14.40 GMT

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