“Russia has not started the war but is defending itself against the enemy”
Russian President Vladimir Putin admits that “Russia is going through difficult times“, but argues that this unites the country and strengthens national pride. “Yes, Russia is going through difficult times, things have never been easy, however, today we are witnessing a moment of common consolidation, which makes the our national pride, while striving in every way to strengthen the foundations of our spirituality, create the economic, industrial and educational conditions for our youth to ensure an unconditional future for our country,” Putin said, quoted by Tass.
“We must be more self-sufficient. Without self-sufficiency, there can be no sovereignty. And self-sufficiency must be achieved in all fields: in art, science, industry and, of course, in the military,” Putin added.
Russia launched a special operation to end a war that has been going on for nine years, President Putin said shortly before, on the occasion of the ceremony for the awarding of honors to representatives of the world of culture in the Kremlin. “We are often told and we hear that Russia has started some kind of war. No, Russia with a special military operation is trying to stop this war, conducted against us, against our people who, due to a historical injustice, ended up outside the historical borders of the Russian state,” he said. “That didn’t stop them from being our people anyway. Russia is doing everything to protect them. And she will do anything. “
MEDVEDEV – NATO makes a mistake in deeming a nuclear war scenario impossible as events can take an “unpredictable” direction. This was underlined by ex-president and now deputy head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with Rt.
“NATO does not take this scenario seriously, otherwise it would not supply such dangerous weapons to the Ukrainian regime. So, apparently, they believe that a nuclear conflict, or a nuclear apocalypse, is impossible“, said Medvedev, according to which “at some point events can take a completely unpredictable direction” and “the responsibility will fall entirely on the Atlantic Alliance”.
STOLTENBERG – “I absolutely trust that Ukraine has the ability, the will, the courage, but also that NATO allies have the determination, to support them so that they can free themselves and ensure that President Vladimir Putin does not win this war” says NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, on the sidelines of the EU Defense Council in Brussels.
“We have demonstrated – he continues – the willingness of NATO allies to really provide support to Ukraine. And we have seen that this support has been decisive. President Putin made major strategic mistakes when he invaded Ukraine, in part because he totally underestimated the Ukrainians, their courage, their determination, but he also totally underestimated the allies and NATO partners, our willingness, our readiness to provide support to Ukraine. This allowed the Ukrainians to push them back and to regain territories”.
“We saw it in the north, around Kiev – he continues – where they liberated a lot of territory. Then we saw it in the east and around Kharkiv. And then we saw it in the south, again, in Kherson. The Ukrainians have already demonstrated their ability to liberate territory, to push back the Russians and the importance of the support they get from NATO allies Obviously they have to do more and that is precisely why we are stepping up our support: tanks, cruise missiles range and pilot training as well,” he concludes.
Source-www.adnkronos.com