On June 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with graduates of military universities and, over a glass of champagne after the welcoming ceremony, shared with them the features of the current situation: “The guys are hammering every single day…”
Graduates of universities of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergency Situations, FSB, FSO, Russian Guard, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Investigative Committee and Federal Penitentiary Service were sitting in the St. George Hall. In general, there were everyone.
At first the ceremony was official. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief drew attention to the fact that “it is here, in this historical place (in St. George’s Hall.— A.K.) honored the best warriors of the Fatherland who, without sparing themselves, fought for the Motherland, for its freedom and sovereignty for the sake of the peaceful and safe life of our people.”
That is, they were honored and honored. And they will be celebrated.
“You have to begin service, lead military units, units and formations in difficult times,” the Supreme Commander-in-Chief admonished the people in the hall. “The current international situation is far from stable.” The armed confrontation in the Middle East continues, and the potential for conflict has seriously increased in a number of regions of the world, including in Eurasia. We see that if previously the NATO countries limited themselves to supporting the Kyiv regime, which came to power illegally, by armed means, with the help of a coup d’etat, now they are openly talking in the West that they are preparing for war with us, increasing military and offensive budgets.
But in fact, a war with Western countries no longer seems to anyone an absurd idea that has nothing to do with common sense. “Nothing can be ruled out.”
“At the same time,” continued the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, “to justify such costs and the radical militarization of their states, the leaders of NATO and the European Union countries, as before, use false statements about the alleged Russian military threat.” The scheme of action of the so-called pseudo-democratic West is very simple: first they create threats to our country, force us to take actions necessary for self-defense and self-defense, and then immediately accuse us of all mortal sins to justify the continuation of their aggressive policy, their aggressive actions towards Russia!
It seems that Vladimir Putin was improvising now. Until now, he had not formulated such thoughts conceptually.
– We know all this well, we know it well! “he continued. “Even after the treacherous attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, precisely the treacherous attack, the West, Hitler’s Germany tried to accuse the USSR and Stalin of aggression against, as we say today, the “collective West.” Surprisingly, this is still considered in quasi-scientific circles!
No, well, something definitely came to his mind before this event. Most likely, the day before Vladimir Putin read something he remembered. And suddenly a new analogy appeared. And we will probably hear about her again.
What happened next was the same as before, including at these events: readiness to respond to any threats (if only to respond first of all to the threats of drones over the Russian regions), modernization of the nuclear triad, the potential of the military space forces (presumably withstood after the attack on the Dubna Machine-Building Plant) and the navy (long in reliable, we hope, shelters).
“I would especially like to note that with the beginning of the special military operation, there was a qualitative development of many types of weapons. I will name only one number. Last year, more than a thousand types of weapons and equipment were tested in combat conditions, including unmanned aerial vehicles with an improved guidance system and loitering ammunition, robotic systems for various purposes, and much, much more. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief demonstrated equanimity, although this may not have been easy: after all, it is not very clear how such a large-scale testing ended, if attacks on Russian regions increased so noticeably.
“But, of course, no achievements in the production of the most modern means of armed struggle will replace the courage and professionalism of our soldiers… As Peter I once succinctly put it about the army, in it “every officer is like a soul in a human body.”
After all, there were officers sitting in the hall, and, one must think, not those whose soul sinks into their heels, especially at the sight of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
And, by the way, the traditional meeting over a glass of champagne with several graduates confirmed this assumption.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov was brief:
“Today, the armed forces are actively introducing elements of artificial intelligence, robotic systems, integrated control systems,” he said, by the way, in my opinion, not without passion: of course, the former first vice-premier, who devoted himself to the idea of a technological breakthrough, in any position will have, as they say, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and this, by a lucky chance (and we know that this is not by chance), is what is required now.
Young Major General Oleg Zakharov was entrusted to speak on behalf of the graduates. Well, what could he say? Only this:
— Throughout history, Russia has had and still has a strong army capable of crushing the enemy! Our task is to preserve and increase the power of the Russian army and the greatness of the Fatherland!
This general, in my opinion, is already mentally on the line of combat contact.
Waiters were already waiting in the Alexander Hall with glasses of champagne. We clinked glasses and took pictures. And it seems that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief had already said goodbye and was ready to leave, but still there was a lieutenant colonel who stopped him with a question:
— Those who attack our targets from their countries, are they even aware of the consequences?! – he called out to Vladimir Putin.
“No, they don’t, apparently,” the Supreme Commander-in-Chief perked up. “Although there are forces that do not want any confrontations… Those forces that publicly declare their desire to build relations with our country are gaining momentum!” Look what’s happening in Germany! All the political forces that advocate aggression against Russia, all the forces that advocate heating up the situation, leading matters to an armed conflict… their ratings are declining, catastrophically! I think this is how it will work out in the end. But they still haven’t gotten around to launching anything from their territories. They understand that there will be a retaliatory strike.
That is, the lieutenant colonel got excited. But for him it doesn’t look like something incredible. And, alas, for no one. Does this mean it will ever happen? For example, tomorrow.
“Everyone understands this or should understand,” added Vladimir Putin. “Therefore, they are trying in every possible way to distance themselves from this.” When in the Baltic countries, for example, some Ukrainian drones fly, and they (the Baltics.— A.K.) still do not point the finger at Moscow… They say that these are Ukrainian drones. Well, there’s a mistake, there’s a glitch in the system, something else, but they haven’t yet gotten to the point of using their territory directly… The military is setting up production facilities… And, of course, there’s a big flow of all the weapons going into the combat zone…
Then Vladimir Putin remembered his speech:
– It was not by chance that I said, by the way… You noticed, I turned the page when I read, because before coming to the hall, I myself, right here, here, practically took it and completed it…
Well, it is: a new idea came to Vladimir Putin just on the fly. All that was left was to share.
“Why,” he said now, “always, practically at all times, we were provoked, provoked, provoked!” And when we began to defend our interests, we immediately said: “Oh, Russia is aggressive!” – and immediately continued everything that they had originally planned!
That is, he repeated his favorite thought.
“I will ask,” added Vladimir Putin, “for more media to give this story, this plot (we are waiting for incendiary talk shows on federal television channels.” A.K.). Before World War II, the Soviet Union did everything to prevent conflict! And he proposed to all European powers to form an alliance against the aggressive regime of Germany, against the Nazi regime. Well, they still evaded! And they were the first to begin concluding agreements with Hitler! In 1938, who made the treaties?
Oh, this was already political information. In Soviet times, this was known as the “five minutes of hatred”:
“They are France and Great Britain!” Vladimir Putin exclaimed. “The British Prime Minister came to London, got off the plane, started waving the pact at them and shouting: “I brought peace!” True, more sensible people in Great Britain said: “Well, now war is inevitable.” That’s how it all happened. Then they attacked the Soviet Union, and right there, right there, on these same days, fascist Germany began to accuse the Soviet Union, that it was the Soviet Union that was preparing an attack! Rave!
The same situation, he wanted to say, is now.
Vladimir Putin wanted to speak out to the end, and from the very beginning:
– And this all continues, and unfortunately continues today! I have already said many times: a coup was carried out in Ukraine, they brought crazy, anti-Russian people to power… They started hostilities in the Donbass! They used aviation, they used tanks, artillery, and so on against virtually civilian populations! We endured for eight years, everyone tried to come to an agreement with them, then they announced that they would not negotiate peacefully, would not implement the Minsk agreements… We were forced to stand up for the people who live there, who consider themselves Russian or part of the Russian world, for whom the Russian language is their native language, they feel part of this history… This all led to the fact that we were forced to do what we did.
It must be noted that the story is becoming shorter and more polished each time. There is no longer a single superfluous word in it.
“And now it’s obvious… Those who came from the front know…” continued the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. “Our guys are pressing them, pressing them in all areas of combat contact, in all!.. There is not a single place where it would be the other way around… No, that means these drones, attacks on civilian infrastructure… For what?!
That is, they could finally just give up.
“Well, to shake up society, of course, with such a massive impact, when the whole West is working for them, these drones are coming in a huge stream, to create some kind of uncertainty in the actions of the Russian armed forces…” Vladimir Putin explained. “But what is happening at the front, they take into account… Well, the guys are hammering there every day!.. They’re hammering every single day!.. We’ll get where we need to go.”
– We will help! – assured the lieutenant colonel.
– I have no doubt. “There is no doubt,” Vladimir Putin nodded.
And he wanted to leave again, but the lieutenant colonel had not finished yet:
– And that letter that Comrade Zelensky told you then, remember, you voiced at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, you called it a piece of paper… Still, it does not create prerequisites for some kind of negotiations?..
By the way, the lieutenant colonel formulated it well.
The lieutenant colonel was preparing for war and wanted peace.
“No,” Vladimir Putin shook his head. “Such appeals do not create prerequisites… What do they amount to?” To, on the contrary, create some kind of conflict potential?.. So he sent this piece of paper… So what? And three days later there was a strike on Starobelsk. How to understand this?.. How to understand this? Well, what are the prerequisites for personal meetings and negotiations? And then, you probably know, and if not, I’ll tell you. They have an understanding of the LBC (line of combat contact.— A.K.) is still very different. Our guys are now almost reaching Konstantinovka. But there is still someone sitting in the basements, hiding, shooting back (Ukrainian military.— A.K.)… They say it’s a gray area, a wonderful gray area…
Vladimir Putin shrugged: well, what a gray area this is…
Then, at a meeting with members of the government, he repeated approximately the same thing.
In the meantime, he said a few more words about how right Russia is in everything it does:
— There are no violations in anything. It’s just that no one wants to notice it! Do you understand? Nobody! Nobody notices what is in the interests of our country! Because no one needs her except you and me… But we need her!
The graduates buzzed: we need Russia…
And, by the way, there is nowhere to retreat.
