There are a lot of reports just now about statements made by Russian President, Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the leadership of the State Duma and heads of factions in the Kremlin on July 7. And I suppose everyone has read the snippets which say…
Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. Well, what can I say here? Let them try.
But everyone should know that we haven’t really started anything in earnest yet.
I thought it important enough to report exactly what was said – in order to give this important matter due context. What follows is a transcript of that meeting. You can alternatively read it on the President of Russia page at the Kremlin website.
I intended to highlight what I consider to be the main points Mr Putin made but, on reflection, whatever is said by arguably the most powerful man in the world now, is of the greatest importance. And Mr Putin is not known either for playing with words or using unnecessary ones. So I have left the whole thing unmarked.
The collective west (I like that expression) should listen carefully. I know that is not one of their fortes but come on, try a little harder this time.
July 7, 2022 – 20:50 – Moscow, Kremlin
Meeting with the leadership of the State Duma and heads of factions
V.Putin: Good afternoon, dear colleagues, dear Vyacheslav Viktorovich!
Yesterday, July 6, the spring session of the State Duma ended, and all the deputies – I want to emphasize this – all the factions made a significant contribution to its overall results.
I believe that the results of our work are very worthy – important and significant for the people, for the entire Russian state, for protecting our national interests, ensuring the sovereign, sustainable and effective development of the country.
This Duma session was rich, intense and very responsible, based on the scale and complexity of the tasks we are facing. After February 24, when the special military operation began, all branches of government and levels of government in the country needed to act decisively, in concert and quickly.
Today I would like to thank you for doing exactly what you did: working in a collected, competent, high-tempo manner. I believe that all the factions have confirmed their political viability and maturity, acted in a consolidated and cohesive manner – like real statesmen and patriots of Russia, for whom any inter-party differences fade into the background in difficult conditions. Because we have many parties, but the Motherland is one, and there is nothing more important and higher than the fate of the Fatherland.
A number of decisions and laws have been adopted that seriously strengthen the system of social support for people, aimed at additional protection of citizens. We are talking not only about faster indexation of pensions, which is certainly very important, raising the subsistence minimum and the minimum wage – all this was implemented without delay, without delay, clearly and competently – but also about new measures to support families with children, extending and expanding the mechanism of preferential mortgages, and additional guarantees for our employees. military heroes. There are many other significant decisions – I won’t list them all now: you know about this as well, and maybe even better than I do, because you did it all yourself, with your own hands.
I would like to emphasize and thank all the parliamentary parties for their organized humanitarian support for the residents of Donbass-all the parliamentary parties, because the media covered this work in different ways, but all of them, as I know from the incoming information, took and are actively participating in this.
I also know that many deputies, after taking official leave, went to the war zone in order to personally, often with a real risk to their own lives, arrange the delivery of food, medicines, and basic necessities on the spot, and quickly deploy humanitarian aid centers. Some of your colleagues are still there, working as volunteers. And such initiative, such unselfish help is really necessary and in great demand.
Taking into account the rapidly changing situation, the State Duma, together with the Government, constantly adjusted the whole range of measures to support the basic sectors of the Russian economy and the labor collectives of enterprises, including the segment of small and medium-sized businesses, the IT industry, and other important areas.
As a result, we managed to maintain macroeconomic stability, which is extremely important for the economy, maintain employment, a normal rhythm of retail trade and economic life in the regions as a whole, the main transport and logistics chains, expand the freedom of entrepreneurial activity and strengthen the protection of businesses from excessive administrative pressure and unjustified criminal prosecution. I know that there is still a lot of work to be done, but in general, a lot has been done.
Several packages of anti-sanctions measures have been introduced in close contact with the Government in a short time, starting from the first days of March. Thanks to them, the consequences of unfriendly, obviously hostile actions of Western countries were minimized. Yes, of course, we understand and know this, we see that they – these measures introduced, illegal measures against Russia-create difficulties for us, an obvious fact, but not at all the ones that the initiators of the economic blitzkrieg against Russia expected.
It is obvious that they were trying not just to hit the Russian economy harder – their goal was to sow discord, confusion in our society, and demoralize people. But even then they miscalculated: it didn’t work out, and I’m sure it won’t.
In this regard, the example of the Russian Parliament as the highest representative body is illustrative. The Parliament’s policy is based on the will of the people of Russia, on a firm position, on the conviction of our historical rightness, on the unquestionable determination of the overwhelming majority of the country’s citizens to defend Russia’s sovereignty and help our people in the Donbas. This is what underlies the policy of our state as a whole.
The so-called collective West, led by the United States, has been behaving exceptionally aggressively towards Russia for decades. Our proposals to create a system of equal security in Europe have been rejected. Initiatives to work together on missile defense have been rejected. Warnings about the unacceptability of NATO expansion, especially at the expense of the former Soviet republics, were ignored. Even the very idea of Russia’s possible integration into this very North Atlantic Alliance at the stage of our seemingly cloudless relations with NATO, apparently, seemed absurd to its members.
And why? Because they simply don’t need a country like Russia – that’s why. That is why we supported terrorism, separatism in Russia, internal destructive forces and the “fifth column” in our country. All of them have received and still receive unconditional support from this very collective West.
We are being told, and we are hearing today, that we have started a war in the Donbas, in Ukraine. No, it was unleashed by this very collective West, which organized and supported an unconstitutional armed coup in Ukraine in 2014, and then encouraged and justified genocide against people in the Donbas. This very collective West is the direct instigator, the culprit of what is happening today.
If this very West wanted to provoke a conflict in order to move on to a new stage of the fight against Russia, to a new stage of containing our country, then we can say that it has succeeded to a certain extent. And the war is unleashed, and sanctions are imposed. Under normal circumstances, it would probably be difficult to do this.
But what would you like to draw your attention to? They should have realized that they have already lost from the very beginning of our special military operation, because its beginning also means the beginning of a radical breakdown of the world order in the American way. This is the beginning of the transition from liberal-globalist American egocentrism to a truly multipolar world-a world based not on self-imposed egoistic rules, which have nothing but the desire for hegemony, not on hypocritical double standards, but on international law, on the true sovereignty of peoples and civilizations, on their will live your own historical destiny, your own values and traditions, and build cooperation based on democracy, justice and equality. And we must understand that this process can no longer be stopped.
The course of history is inexorable, and the attempts of the collective West to impose its new world order on the world, these attempts are doomed to failure.
At the same time, I want to say and emphasize that we have many supporters, including in the United States itself, and in Europe, and even more so on other continents and in other countries, and there will be more and more of them, there is no doubt about it.
I repeat, even in the countries that are still satellites of the United States, there is a growing understanding that the blind obedience of their ruling elites to the suzerain, as a rule, does not correspond to their national interests, and most often simply cardinally contradicts them. With the growth of these sentiments in society, in the end, everyone will have to take into account.
Today, they, these ruling elites, are clearly increasing the degree of manipulation of public consciousness. The ruling classes of Western countries, which are supranational and globalist in nature, realizing that their policies are increasingly detached from reality, from common sense, from the truth, began to use openly despotic methods.
The West, which once declared such principles of democracy as freedom of speech, pluralism, and respect for other opinions, is now degenerating into the exact opposite – totalitarianism. It includes censorship, closure of mass media, arbitrary actions against journalists and public figures.
This practice of bans applies not only to the information space, but also to politics, culture, education, and the arts – to all spheres of public life in Western countries. Moreover, they are trying to impose such a model – the model of totalitarian liberalism, including the notorious culture of abolition and universal prohibitions-on the whole world.
But the truth and reality is that the people of most countries do not want such a life and such a future, but really strive not for formal, decorative, but for meaningful, real sovereignty, and they are simply tired of kneeling down, humiliating themselves in front of those who consider themselves exceptional, and even to the detriment of serving their interests.
Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. Well, what can I say here? Let them try. We have already heard a lot that the West wants to fight with us “to the last Ukrainian”. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is coming to this. But everyone should know that we haven’t really started anything in earnest yet.
At the same time, we are not giving up on peace talks, but those who refuse should know that the further they go, the more difficult it will be for them to negotiate with us.
Dear colleagues!
The patriotic state approach is fully reflected in the work of the State Duma, in fact, it determines the entire legislative and political agenda. This is how it should be in a democratic and truly independent State.
I am convinced that for the leading parties of Russia, concern for the welfare of our country and our people, for the people who delegated and entrusted you with their vote, gave you a high status as a legislator, and expect the deputies to serve honestly, conscientiously, and adopt effective, fair, and deeply thought-out legislative acts, is paramount. It is people who will give their objective assessment of each party, including in September, during the regular elections to regional and municipal authorities.
I hope that the pre-election competition will not harm our joint partnership activities in the State Duma of the current eighth convocation.
Thank you so much for your attention.
On the website you may also read the responses of the deputies at the meeting.
Not Something Else 
Leave a Reply