For the first time since February 24, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin dared to hold a direct line and a Press Conference. Meanwhile, air alerts sounded all over Ukraine. The Russian dictator tried to justify a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying that the situation in Gaza was much worse.
Apostrophe publishes the main theses of Russian President.
Thus, Putin was horrified by what was happening in Gaza, calling the situation a catastrophe. The war in Ukraine seems to be a different matter, he said.
"[The whole world] sees ... Look at the SWO and look at what is happening in Gaza. There is nothing like this in Ukraine. You mentioned the deaths of thousands of children, women. The UN Secretary General called today's Gaza the biggest children's cemetery in the world," he said.
Also, the Russian president once again "sang a song" about "native Russian territories," referring to the east and south of Ukraine.
"The entire southeast of Ukraine has always been pro-Russian, because these are historical Russian territories. Turkey knows very well, the whole Black Sea region passed to Russia after Russian-Turkish wars. What does Ukraine have to do with it? It has nothing to do with it at all. Neither Crimea, nor the entire Black Sea coast. Odesa is a Russian city. We know about it. Everyone knows it well," the dictator said.
Putin also made some interesting statements about the war progress and mobilization. According to him, the "mobiks" are not "mobiks" at all, but people "who are excellent fighters." There are even 14 heroes of Russia among them, not counting other awards and medals.
"Currently there are about 244,000 directly in the war zone and 486,000 more have been mobilized under contract," the dictator said, adding that there is no need for a new mobilization at the moment.
Putin called the situation with PMCs a "gap" allowed by the Russian Defense Ministry. As he said, some of the children of people from his inner circle were soldiers of PMCs. He believes that the rights of PMC fighters should be returned, they should have support and benefits like all combatants.
In addition, he hinted that he wouldn't mind returning to the Istanbul format of negotiations, but under worse conditions for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the network publishes questions that viewers asked him during the press conference, but which were not removed from the screens in time. Among them: "When the real Russia won't differ from the TV one?", "Why is there roaming in Crimea if it is Russia?", "Why does your reality diverge from our reality?", " For what is our country fighting in Ukraine?", "When will the war end?" and others.
However, the last question Putin did answer at the press conference, presenting the information to his advantage. He said that the war against Ukraine will end when he achieves all his goals - denazification, demilitarization and neutral status for Ukraine.
"Peace will be when we achieve our goals. They are not changing. I will remind you what we talked about then: denazification in Ukraine, demilitarization, its neutral status," he said
He recalled that in Istanbul, Kyiv officials claimed that there was no such thing as fascism in Ukraine.
"[How could there not be? When a national hero, a famous not just nationalist, but Nazi Bandera, is elevated to the rank of a national hero. How not? And when the head of today's Kiev administration in front of the eyes of the whole world gives a standing ovation to a former SS soldier who directly participated in the holocaust. Is this not a manifestation of Nazism? Therefore, the issue of denazification is a topical one," the dictator said.
He also believes that Ukraine will soon be without Western help, and it doesn't produce weapons by itself.
"Well today Ukraine produces almost nothing. Well, they are trying to save something there, but they bring everything - excuse me - they bring everything for free. But this free stuff may end someday. And it seems to be ending little by little," said the President of the Russian Federation.
Earlier we published the main theses of Zelensky's speech at the U.S. Defense University.