普丁就新地區加入俄羅斯向公民們發表講話

【縛雞之論】英文拷到 G / D 找中文翻譯
普丁的演說，比較像罵街。

普京就新地區加入俄羅斯向公民們發表講話    俄新網 20221001

9月30日，週五，俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京簽署了頓涅茨克人民共和國、盧甘斯克人民共和國、赫爾松州和扎波羅熱州加入俄羅斯的文件。此後俄羅斯總統普京立刻就新地區的加入發表了講話。

尊敬的俄羅斯公民們、頓涅茨克、盧甘斯克人民共和國的公民們、扎波羅熱和赫爾松州的居民們、國家杜馬議員和俄聯邦參議員們！

你們知道，頓、盧人民共和國、扎波羅熱和赫爾松州舉行了全民公決。其結果已經產生，大家也都知道，人們做出了自己的選擇、明確的選擇。

我們今天簽署接收頓、盧人民共和國、扎波羅熱和赫爾松州加入俄羅斯條約。我堅信，聯邦議會將支持接收和建立四個新地區、俄聯邦新主體的憲法法律，因為這是百萬人的意志。

當然，這是他們的權利、他們不可剝奪的權利。此項權利，固定在《聯合國憲章》第一章中，該章直接談及人民權利平等和自決的原則。

我重復一下：這是人民不可剝奪的權利，它建立在歷史統一的基礎上，我們世代祖先、那些源於古羅斯的幾個世紀中創造和捍衛俄羅斯者為之去獲得勝利。在這裡，在新俄羅斯，魯緬採夫、蘇沃洛夫和烏沙科夫曾戰鬥過，葉卡捷琳娜二世和波將金建起新的城市。在這裡，我們祖父和曾祖父在偉大衛國戰爭中拼死抵抗。

我們將記住“俄羅斯春天”的英雄們，記住那些2014年不屈服於烏克蘭新納粹國家政變的人，記住所有為講俄語權利、維護自己文化、傳統、信仰和生存權而死去的人。他們是頓巴斯的戰士、“敖德薩哈丁”的殉道者和基輔政權非人道恐襲的受害者；他們是志願者、民兵、平民、兒童、婦女、老人、俄羅斯人、烏克蘭人和不同民族的人；他們是頓涅茨克真正的人民領袖亞歷山大·扎哈爾琴科、是戰鬥指揮官阿爾岑·帕夫洛夫、弗拉基米爾·若加、奧麗加·柯秋拉和阿列克謝·莫茲戈沃伊和盧甘斯克共和國檢察官謝爾蓋·格林柯；他們是空降兵努爾馬戈米德·加徳日馬戈米多夫和我們所有在特別軍事行動中勇敢犧牲的戰士和軍官們。他們是英雄，是偉大俄羅斯的英雄。請大家為他們默哀一分鐘。

頓、盧人民共和國、扎波羅熱和赫爾松州百萬居民選擇的背後，是我們的共同命運和千年歷史。人民將這種精神紐帶傳遞給我們的孩子和孫子們。儘管經受了各種考驗，但多年後依然對俄羅斯充滿了愛。我們的這種情感，誰也不能摧毀。這就是老一代和那些在蘇聯解體悲劇後出生的年輕人為我們統一、為我們共同未來投票的原因。

1991年在別洛韋日森林，當時的黨內精英，在未詢問普通公民意志情況下，做出解散蘇聯的決定，大家瞬間與自己的祖國斷了聯繫。這是活生生地將我們人民的共同性撕裂並肢解，造成民族災難。猶如革命後曾在幕後切割加盟共和國邊界那樣，蘇聯最後幾任領導人違背1991 年全民公決中大多數人的直接意願，毀掉了我們偉大的國家，簡單地將大家置於事實面前。

我不排除，他們甚至最終也沒明白在做甚麼，最終將導致怎樣的不可避免的結果。但這已經不重要了，蘇聯已經沒了，過去的不能重復。現在的俄羅斯也不需要這個，我們不去追求這些。但沒甚麼比數百萬人決心更為強大的，他們根據自己的文化、信仰、傳統和語言，認為自己是俄羅斯的一部分，他們的祖先在統一國家生活了幾個世紀。沒有甚麼比這些人回歸他們真實的、歷史悠久的祖國的決心更強大的了。

長達八年時間里，頓巴斯人遭受種族滅絕、炮擊和封鎖，而在赫爾松和扎波羅熱，他們試圖以犯罪的方式培養對俄羅斯的仇恨、仇恨俄羅斯的一切。現在，公投期間，基輔政權以迫害中學教師、選舉委員會工作的婦女相威脅，以鎮壓去恫嚇表達自己意願的數百萬人。但頓巴斯、扎波羅熱和赫爾松堅不可摧的人民，說出了自己的意見。

我希望，基輔政權和其在西方的真正主人聽到我的聲音並記住所有這些：生活在盧甘斯克、頓涅茨克、赫爾松和扎波羅熱的居民，永遠成為我們的公民。

我敦促基輔政權盡快停火、停止所有戰鬥、停止他們還在2014年挑起的戰爭，回到談判桌旁。我們為此做好了準備，也多次說過。但頓涅茨克、盧甘斯克、扎波羅熱和赫爾松人民所做選擇，我們不做討論，選擇已經做出，俄羅斯不會背叛。今天的基輔政權，應尊重人民的自由意志表達，而不是任何其它，這才是通向和平之路。

我們將用一切可用的力量和手段保衛我們的土地，盡一切努力確保我們人民的生活安全，這是我們人民偉大解放使命之所在。

我們一定重建毀掉了的城市、村鎮、住宅、學校、醫院、劇院和博物館，重建和發展工業企業、工廠、基礎設施、社保、退休、衛生和教育體系。

當然，我們會努力提高安全水平，我們將共同確保新地區公民能夠感受到俄羅斯全體人民、整個國家、所有共和國、我們廣闊祖國的所有邊疆區和各州的支持。

今天，我想向參加特別軍事行動的士兵和軍官、頓巴斯和新俄羅斯的士兵們發表講話，他們在局部動員令頒布後加入武裝部隊，履行愛國義務。他們在其心靈的呼喚下來到兵役委員會。我想告知他們的父母、妻子和孩子，我們的人民為何而戰，誰是我們的敵人，將世界推入新的戰爭和危機中，從這場悲劇中榨取自己的血腥好處。

我們的同胞，我們烏克蘭的兄弟姐妹，是我們團結人民的至親部分。他們親眼看到所謂西方統治集團正為全人類準備了甚麼。在這裡，他們實際上只是扔掉了面具，展示出自己真實的內心。

蘇聯解體後，西方認為，世界和我們所有人，將永遠不得不屈服於他們的強權。1991年，西方認為，俄羅斯無法從那些沈痛中恢復過來，並將繼續自我瓦解。這幾乎成為事實，我們記得90年代、令人可怕的90年代，飢餓、寒冷和沒有希望。但俄羅斯站住了，復興了，強壯了，再次在世界上佔據應有的位置。

與此同時，西方一直在尋找並繼續尋找新的機會來打擊我們，削弱和瓦解俄羅斯，這是他們所夢想的，分裂我們的國家，讓人民彼此相鬥，使其注定貧窮和滅絕。他們所困擾的，是世界上有如此偉大和領土廣袤的國家，擁有自然財富和資源，以及不知道如何、也永遠不會按照他人命令生活的人民。

西方已做好跨越一切的準備，以維繫新殖民體系。這樣才能借助於美元和技術強權，去寄生和掠奪世界，從人類那裡獲得真正的貢品，得到不勞而獲財富與霸權好處的主要源泉。維持這種好處是他們的關鍵、真實和絕對自私的動機。這是全面非主權化符合其利益的原因。因此，他們去挑釁獨立國家、傳統價值觀和獨特文化，企圖破壞不受其控制的國際化和一體化進程，破壞新的世界貨幣和技術發展中心。對他們來說，所有國家將自己的主權交給美國是極為重要的。

某些國家統治者自願認同這些，自願成為附庸；對另一些國家則去收買和恫嚇，如果不成功，他們會摧毀那些國家，留下人道主義災難、禍端、廢墟，以及數百萬人被毀掉和破壞了的命運、恐怖主義飛地、社會災難區、保護國、殖民地和半殖民地。他們無所謂，只要能獲得好處。

我再次強調，“西方集體”對俄羅斯發動混合爭的真正原因，正是出於貪婪和保持其無限權力的意圖。他們要的不是平等合作，而是搶劫。他們不想將我們看成是自由社會，而是一群沒有靈魂的奴隸。

對他們來說，我們的思想和哲學是直接威脅，因此去謀害我們的哲學家。我們的文化和藝術對他們來說是危險的，因此他們試圖去禁止。我們的發展與繁榮，對他們同樣是威脅，因為競爭在加劇。他們根本不需要俄羅斯，但我們需要。

西方指望不受懲罰，期望僥倖避開。確實，迄今為止都得手了。戰略安全領域協議被扔進廢紙簍；政治最高層達成的共識被宣佈為無稽之談；北約不東擴的堅定承諾，我們前領導人一旦接受，就變成了骯臟的騙局；反導彈防禦和中短程導彈條約，被以杜撰的藉口單方面撕毀。

我們從各方面聽到：“西方堅持基於規則的秩序”。它們從哪裡來的？誰看到了這些規則？誰商量過？請聽好，這是胡說八道，是純粹的欺騙，雙重或已經是三重標準，只是為傻瓜設計的。

俄羅斯是偉大的千年國家、文明國家，不會按斷章取義和虛假規則去生活。

正是所謂的西方踐踏了邊界不可侵犯原則，現在又在按照自己的看法去決定，誰有自決權，誰沒有和不配。他們為何這樣決定，不明白，誰給了他們這樣的權利，是他們自己。

這就是為甚麼，克里米亞、塞瓦斯托波爾、頓涅茨克、盧甘斯克、扎波羅熱和赫爾松人民的選擇會引起他們的憤怒。這個西方，沒有任何道德權利對選擇去做評價，甚至約略提一下民主自由。沒有，之前也從沒有過。

西方精英不僅否認國家主權和國際法，他們的霸權具有明顯的極權主義、專制主義和種族隔離特徵。他們肆無忌憚地將世界分為他們的附庸，即所謂的文明國家，以及其他所有國家。按照當今西方種族主義者的想法，後者應被該納入殘暴者和野蠻人清單。“流氓國家”、“極權體制”的虛假標籤已準備好了，這沒甚麼新鮮的。在此方面沒甚麼新的東西：西方精英無論怎樣，還是那樣的殖民者。他們搞歧視，將人民分成“一等”和“其它等”。

 

Presidential address on the occasion of signing the treaties on the accession of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia. Photo: Grigoriy Sisoev, RIA Novosti    20220930

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, deputies of the State Duma, senators of the Russian Federation,

As you know, referendums have been held in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The ballots have been counted and the results have been announced. The people have made their unequivocal choice.

Today we will sign treaties on the accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye Region and Kherson Region to the Russian Federation. I have no doubt that the Federal Assembly will support the constitutional laws on the accession to Russia and the establishment of four new regions, our new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, because this is the will of millions of people. (Applause.)

It is undoubtedly their right, an inherent right sealed in Article 1 of the UN Charter, which directly states the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

I repeat, it is an inherent right of the people. It is based on our historical affinity, and it is that right that led generations of our predecessors, those who built and defended Russia for centuries since the period of Ancient Rus, to victory.

Here in Novorossiya, [Pyotr] Rumyantsev, [Alexander] Suvorov and [Fyodor] Ushakov fought their battles, and Catherine the Great and [Grigory] Potyomkin founded new cities. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought here to the bitter end during the Great Patriotic War.

We will always remember the heroes of the Russian Spring, those who refused to accept the neo-Nazi coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014, all those who died for the right to speak their native language, to preserve their culture, traditions and religion, and for the very right to live. We remember the soldiers of Donbass, the martyrs of the “Odessa Khatyn,” the victims of inhuman terrorist attacks carried out by the Kiev regime. We commemorate volunteers and militiamen, civilians, children, women, senior citizens, Russians, Ukrainians, people of various nationalities; popular leader of Donetsk Alexander Zakharchenko; military commanders Arsen Pavlov and Vladimir Zhoga, Olga Kochura and Alexei Mozgovoy; prosecutor of the Lugansk Republic Sergei Gorenko; paratrooper Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov and all our soldiers and officers who died a hero’s death during the special military operation. They are heroes. (Applause.) Heroes of great Russia. Please join me in a minute of silence to honour their memory.

(Minute of silence.)

Thank you.

Behind the choice of millions of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, is our common destiny and thousand-year history. People have passed this spiritual connection on to their children and grandchildren. Despite all the trials they endured, they carried the love for Russia through the years. This is something no one can destroy. That is why both older generations and young people – those who were born after the tragic collapse of the Soviet Union – have voted for our unity, for our common future.

In 1991 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, representatives of the party elite of that time made a decision to terminate the Soviet Union, without asking ordinary citizens what they wanted, and people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart and dismembered our national community and triggered a national catastrophe. Just like the government quietly demarcated the borders of Soviet republics, acting behind the scenes after the 1917 revolution, the last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct expression of the will of the majority of people in the referendum of 1991, destroyed our great country, and simply made the people in the former republics face this as an accomplished fact.

I can admit that they didn’t even know what they were doing and what consequences their actions would have in the end. But it doesn't matter now. There is no Soviet Union anymore; we cannot return to the past. Actually, Russia no longer needs it today; this isn’t our ambition. But there is nothing stronger than the determination of millions of people who, by their culture, religion, traditions, and language, consider themselves part of Russia, whose ancestors lived in a single country for centuries. There is nothing stronger than their determination to return to their true historical homeland.

For eight long years, people in Donbass were subjected to genocide, shelling and blockades; in Kherson and Zaporozhye, a criminal policy was pursued to cultivate hatred for Russia, for everything Russian. Now too, during the referendums, the Kiev regime threatened schoolteachers, women who worked in election commissions with reprisals and death. Kiev threatened millions of people who came to express their will with repression. But the people of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson weren’t broken, and they had their say.

I want the Kiev authorities and their true handlers in the West to hear me now, and I want everyone to remember this: the people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, in Kherson and Zaporozhye have become our citizens, forever. (Applause.)

We call on the Kiev regime to immediately cease fire and all hostilities; to end the war it unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table. We are ready for this, as we have said more than once. But the choice of the people in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson will not be discussed. The decision has been made, and Russia will not betray it. (Applause.) Kiev’s current authorities should respect this free expression of the people’s will; there is no other way. This is the only way to peace.

We will defend our land with all the forces and resources we have, and we will do everything we can to ensure the safety of our people. This is the great liberating mission of our nation.

We will definitely rebuild the destroyed cities and towns, the residential buildings, schools, hospitals, theatres and museums. We will restore and develop industrial enterprises, factories, infrastructure, as well as the social security, pension, healthcare and education systems.

We will certainly work to improve the level of security. Together we will make sure that citizens in the new regions can feel the support of all the people of Russia, of the entire nation, all the republics, territories and regions of our vast Motherland. (Applause.)

Friends, colleagues,

Today I would like to address our soldiers and officers who are taking part in the special military operation, the fighters of Donbass and Novorossiya, those who went to military recruitment offices after receiving a call-up paper under the executive order on partial mobilisation, and those who did this voluntarily, answering the call of their hearts. I would like to address their parents, wives and children, to tell them what our people are fighting for, what kind of enemy we are up against, and who is pushing the world into new wars and crises and deriving blood-stained benefits from this tragedy.

Our compatriots, our brothers and sisters in Ukraine who are part of our united people have seen with their own eyes what the ruling class of the so-called West have prepared for humanity as a whole. They have dropped their masks and shown what they are really made of.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the West decided that the world and all of us would permanently accede to its dictates. In 1991, the West thought that Russia would never rise after such shocks and would fall to pieces on its own. This almost happened. We remember the horrible 1990s, hungry, cold and hopeless. But Russia remained standing, came alive, grew stronger and occupied its rightful place in the world.

Meanwhile, the West continued and continues looking for another chance to strike a blow at us, to weaken and break up Russia, which they have always dreamed about, to divide our state and set our peoples against each other, and to condemn them to poverty and extinction. They cannot rest easy knowing that there is such a great country with this huge territory in the world, with its natural wealth, resources and people who cannot and will not do someone else’s bidding.

The West is ready to cross every line to preserve the neo-colonial system which allows it to live off the world, to plunder it thanks to the domination of the dollar and technology, to collect an actual tribute from humanity, to extract its primary source of unearned prosperity, the rent paid to the hegemon. The preservation of this annuity is their main, real and absolutely self-serving motivation. This is why total de-sovereignisation is in their interest. This explains their aggression towards independent states, traditional values and authentic cultures, their attempts to undermine international and integration processes, new global currencies and technological development centres they cannot control. It is critically important for them to force all countries to surrender their sovereignty to the United States.

In certain countries, the ruling elites voluntarily agree to do this, voluntarily agree to become vassals; others are bribed or intimidated. And if this does not work, they destroy entire states, leaving behind humanitarian disasters, devastation, ruins, millions of wrecked and mangled human lives, terrorist enclaves, social disaster zones, protectorates, colonies and semi-colonies. They don't care. All they care about is their own benefit.

I want to underscore again that their insatiability and determination to preserve their unfettered dominance are the real causes of the hybrid war that the collective West is waging against Russia. They do not want us to be free; they want us to be a colony. They do not want equal cooperation; they want to loot. They do not want to see us a free society, but a mass of soulless slaves.

They see our thought and our philosophy as a direct threat. That is why they target our philosophers for assassination. Our culture and art present a danger to them, so they are trying to ban them. Our development and prosperity are also a threat to them because competition is growing. They do not want or need Russia, but we do. (Applause.)

I would like to remind you that in the past, ambitions of world domination have repeatedly shattered against the courage and resilience of our people. Russia will always be Russia. We will continue to defend our values and our Motherland.

The West is counting on impunity, on being able to get away with anything. As a matter of fact, this was actually the case until recently. Strategic security agreements have been trashed; agreements reached at the highest political level have been declared tall tales; firm promises not to expand NATO to the east gave way to dirty deception as soon as our former leaders bought into them; missile defence, intermediate-range and shorter-range missile treaties have been unilaterally dismantled under far-fetched pretexts.

And all we hear is, the West is insisting on a rules-based order. Where did that come from anyway? Who has ever seen these rules? Who agreed or approved them? Listen, this is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we’re stupid.

Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules. (Applause.)

It was the so-called West that trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders, and now it is deciding, at its own discretion, who has the right to self-determination and who does not, who is unworthy of it. It is unclear what their decisions are based on or who gave them the right to decide in the first place. They just assumed it.

That is why the choice of the people in Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson makes them so furiously angry. The West does not have any moral right to weigh in, or even utter a word about freedom of democracy. It does not and it never did.

Western elites not only deny national sovereignty and international law. Their hegemony has pronounced features of totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid. They brazenly divide the world into their vassals – the so-called civilised countries – and all the rest, who, according to the designs of today's Western racists, should be added to the list of barbarians and savages. False labels like “rogue country” or “authoritarian regime” are already available, and are used to stigmatise entire nations and states, which is nothing new. There is nothing new in this: deep down, the Western elites have remained the same colonisers. They discriminate and divide peoples into the top tier and the rest.

We have never agreed to and will never agree to such political nationalism and racism. What else, if not racism, is the Russophobia being spread around the world? What, if not racism, is the West’s dogmatic conviction that its civilisation and neoliberal culture is an indisputable model for the entire world to follow? “You’re either with us or against us.” It even sounds strange.

Western elites are even shifting repentance for their own historical crimes on everyone else, demanding that the citizens of their countries and other peoples confess to things they have nothing to do with at all, for example, the period of colonial conquests.

It is worth reminding the West that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed by the worldwide slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India and Africa, the wars of England and France against China, as a result of which it was forced to open its ports to the opium trade. What they did was get entire nations hooked on drugs and purposefully exterminated entire ethnic groups for the sake of grabbing land and resources, hunting people like animals. This is contrary to human nature, truth, freedom and justice.

While we – we are proud that in the 20^th century our country led the anti-colonial movement, which opened up opportunities for many peoples around the world to make progress, reduce poverty and inequality, and defeat hunger and disease.

To emphasise, one of the reasons for the centuries-old Russophobia, the Western elites’ unconcealed animosity toward Russia is precisely the fact that we did not allow them to rob us during the period of colonial conquests and forced the Europeans to trade with us on mutually beneficial terms. This was achieved by creating a strong centralised state in Russia, which grew and got stronger based on the great moral values​​of Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, as well as Russian culture and the Russian word that were open to all.

There were numerous plans to invade Russia. Such attempts were made during the Time of Troubles in the 17^th century and in the period of ordeals after the 1917 revolution. All of them failed. The West managed to grab hold of Russia’s wealth only in the late 20^th century, when the state had been destroyed. They called us friends and partners, but they treated us like a colony, using various schemes to pump trillions of dollars out of the country. We remember. We have not forgotten anything.

A few days ago, people in Donetsk and Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye declared their support for restoring our historical unity. Thank you! (Applause.)

Western countries have been saying for centuries that they bring freedom and democracy to other nations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of bringing democracy they suppressed and exploited, and instead of giving freedom they enslaved and oppressed. The unipolar world is inherently anti-democratic and unfree; it is false and hypocritical through and through.

The United States is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons twice, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. And they created a precedent.

Recall that during WWII the United States and Britain reduced Dresden, Hamburg, Cologne and many other German cities to rubble, without the least military necessity. It was done ostentatiously and, to repeat, without any military necessity. They had only one goal, as with the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities: to intimidate our country and the rest of the world.

The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons.

It actually continues to occupy Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries, which they cynically refer to as equals and allies. Look now, what kind of alliance is that? The whole world knows that the top officials in these countries are being spied on and that their offices and homes are bugged. It is a disgrace, a disgrace for those who do this and for those who, like slaves, silently and meekly swallow this arrogant behaviour.

They call the orders and threats they make to their vassals Euro-Atlantic solidarity, and the creation of biological weapons and the use of human test subjects, including in Ukraine, noble medical research.

It is their destructive policies, wars and plunder that have unleashed today’s massive wave of migrants. Millions of people endure hardships and humiliation or die by the thousands trying to reach Europe.

They are exporting grain from Ukraine now. Where are they taking it under the guise of ensuring the food security of the poorest countries? Where is it going? They are taking it to the self-same European countries. Only five percent has been delivered to the poorest countries. More cheating and naked deception again.

In effect, the American elite is using the tragedy of these people to weaken its rivals, to destroy nation states. This goes for Europe and for the identities of France, Italy, Spain and other countries with centuries-long histories.

Washington demands more and more sanctions against Russia and the majority of European politicians obediently go along with it. They clearly understand that by pressuring the EU to completely give up Russian energy and other resources, the United States is practically pushing Europe toward deindustrialisation in a bid to get its hands on the entire European market. These European elites understand everything – they do, but they prefer to serve the interests of others. This is no longer servility but direct betrayal of their own peoples. God bless, it is up to them.

But the Anglo-Saxons believe sanctions are no longer enough and now they have turned to subversion. It seems incredible but it is a fact – by causing explosions on Nord Stream’s international gas pipelines passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually embarked on the destruction of Europe’s entire energy infrastructure. It is clear to everyone who stands to gain. Those who benefit are responsible, of course.

The dictates of the US are backed up by crude force, on the law of the fist. Sometimes it is beautifully wrapped sometimes there is no wrapping at all but the gist is the same – the law of the fist. Hence, the deployment and maintenance of hundreds of military bases in all corners of the world, NATO expansion, and attempts to cobble together new military alliances, such as AUKUS and the like. Much is being done to create a Washington-Seoul-Tokyo military-political chain. All states that possess or aspire to genuine strategic sovereignty and are capable of challenging Western hegemony, are automatically declared enemies.

These are the principles that underlie US and NATO military doctrines that require total domination. Western elites are presenting their neocolonialist plans with the same hypocrisy, claiming peaceful intentions, talking about some kind of deterrence. This evasive word migrates from one strategy to another but really only means one thing – undermining any and all sovereign centres of power.

We have already heard about the deterrence of Russia, China and Iran. I believe next in line are other countries of Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, as well as current US partners and allies. After all, we know that when they are displeased, they introduce sanctions against their allies as well – against this or that bank or company. This is their practice and they will expand it. They have everything in their sights, including our next-door neighbours – the CIS countries.

At the same time, the West has clearly been engaged in wishful thinking for a long time. In launching the sanctions blitzkrieg against Russia, for example, they thought that they could once again line up the whole world at their command. As it turns out, however, such a bright prospect does not excite everyone – other than complete political masochists and admirers of other unconventional forms of international relations. Most states refuse to ”snap a salute“ and instead choose the sensible path of cooperation with Russia.

The West clearly did not expect such insubordination. They simply got used to acting according to a template, to grab whatever they please, by blackmail, bribery, intimidation, and convinced themselves that these methods would work forever, as if they had fossilised in the past.

Such self-confidence is a direct product not only of the notorious concept of exceptionalism – although it never ceases to amaze – but also of the real ”information hunger“ in the West. The truth has been drowned in an ocean of myths, illusions and fakes, using extremely aggressive propaganda, lying like Goebbels. The more unbelievable the lie, the quicker people will believe it – that is how they operate, according to this principle.

But people cannot be fed with printed dollars and euros. You can't feed them with those pieces of paper, and the virtual, inflated capitalisation of western social media companies can't heat their homes. Everything I am saying is important. And what I just said is no less so: you can't feed anyone with paper – you need food; and you can't heat anyone’s home with these inflated capitalisations – you need energy.

That is why politicians in Europe have to convince their fellow citizens to eat less, take a shower less often and dress warmer at home. And those who start asking fair questions like “Why is that, in fact?” are immediately declared enemies, extremists and radicals. They point back at Russia and say: that is the source of all your troubles. More lies.

I want to make special note of the fact that there is every reason to believe that the Western elites are not going to look for constructive ways out of the global food and energy crisis that they and they alone are to blame for, as a result of their long-term policy, dating back long before our special military operation in Ukraine, in Donbass. They have no intention of solving the problems of injustice and inequality. I am afraid they would rather use other formulas they are more comfortable with.

And here it is important to recall that the West bailed itself out of its early 20^th century challenges with World War I. Profits from World War II helped the United States finally overcome the Great Depression and become the largest economy in the world, and to impose on the planet the power of the dollar as a global reserve currency. And the 1980s crisis – things came to a head in the 1980s again – the West emerged from it unscathed largely by appropriating the inheritance and resources of the collapsed and defunct Soviet Union. That's a fact.

Now, in order to free itself from the latest web of challenges, they need to dismantle Russia as well as other states that choose a sovereign path of development, at all costs, to be able to further plunder other nations’ wealth and use it to patch their own holes. If this does not happen, I cannot rule out that they will try to trigger a collapse of the entire system, and blame everything on that, or, God forbid, decide to use the old formula of economic growth through war.

Russia is aware of its responsibility to the international community and will make every effort to ensure that cooler heads prevail.

The current neocolonial model is ultimately doomed; this much is obvious. But I repeat that its real masters will cling to it to the end. They simply have nothing to offer the world except to maintain the same system of plundering and racketeering.

They do not give a damn about the natural right of billions of people, the majority of humanity, to freedom and justice, the right to determine their own future. They have already moved on to the radical denial of moral, religious, and family values.

Let’s answer some very simple questions for ourselves. Now I would like to return to what I said and want to address also all citizens of the country – not just the colleagues that are in the hall – but all citizens of Russia: do we want to have here, in our country, in Russia, “parent number one, parent number two and parent number three” (they have completely lost it!) instead of mother and father? Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery? Is that what we want for our country and our children? This is all unacceptable to us. We have a different future of our own.

Let me repeat that the dictatorship of the Western elites targets all societies, including the citizens of Western countries themselves. This is a challenge to all. This complete renunciation of what it means to be human, the overthrow of faith and traditional values, and the suppression of freedom are coming to resemble a “religion in reverse” – pure Satanism. Exposing false messiahs, Jesus Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” These poisonous fruits are already obvious to people, and not only in our country but also in all countries, including many people in the West itself.

The world has entered a period of a fundamental, revolutionary transformation. New centres of power are emerging. They represent the majority – the majority! – of the international community. They are ready not only to declare their interests but also to protect them. They see in multipolarity an opportunity to strengthen their sovereignty, which means gaining genuine freedom, historical prospects, and the right to their own independent, creative and distinctive forms of development, to a harmonious process.

As I have already said, we have many like-minded people in Europe and the United States, and we feel and see their support. An essentially emancipatory, anti-colonial movement against unipolar hegemony is taking shape in the most diverse countries and societies. Its power will only grow with time. It is this force that will determine our future geopolitical reality.

Friends,

Today, we are fighting for a just and free path, first of all for ourselves, for Russia, in order to leave dictate and despotism in the past. I am convinced that countries and peoples understand that a policy based on the exceptionalism of whoever it may be and the suppression of other cultures and peoples is inherently criminal, and that we must close this shameful chapter. The ongoing collapse of Western hegemony is irreversible. And I repeat: things will never be the same.

The battlefield to which destiny and history have called us is a battlefield for our people, for the great historical Russia. (Applause.) For the great historical Russia, for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We must protect them against enslavement and monstrous experiments that are designed to cripple their minds and souls.

Today, we are fighting so that it would never occur to anyone that Russia, our people, our language, or our culture can be erased from history. Today, we need a consolidated society, and this consolidation can only be based on sovereignty, freedom, creation, and justice. Our values ​​are humanity, mercy and compassion.

And I want to close with the words of a true patriot Ivan Ilyin: “If I consider Russia my Motherland, that means that I love as a Russian, contemplate and think, sing and speak as a Russian; that I believe in the spiritual strength of the Russian people. Its spirit is my spirit; its destiny is my destiny; its suffering is my grief; and its prosperity is my joy.”

Behind these words stands a glorious spiritual choice, which, for more than a thousand years of Russian statehood, was followed by many generations of our ancestors. Today, we are making this choice; the citizens of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics and the residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have made this choice. They made the choice to be with their people, to be with their Motherland, to share in its destiny, and to be victorious together with it.

The truth is with us, and behind us is Russia!

(Applause.)