THEY WERE EVEN AFRAID TO KEEP SILENT ABOUT IT: PUTIN'S SPEECH OPENS UP A NEW REALITY
There is no Russia without Russians! The citizens of a huge country have been waiting for these words of the president for a long time. In an address to the members of the forum of the World Russian People's Council dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the organization, Putin called the main theses of our Victory. He voiced the present and the future of the Russian world. Tsargrad publishes the address of the head of state.
Your Holiness! Dear friends!
I welcome all participants of the World Russian People's Council.
It was established in 1993. We remember what a difficult and crucial time it was for the country. Then the Council was able to unite representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, other religious organizations, political parties and movements, cultural figures, scientists, entrepreneurs, people of different views, beliefs, nationalities, but united in the main thing – in their firm patriotic position.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your support, for your contribution to strengthening Russian statehood, civil peace and harmony, to the consolidation of society and for the help you always provide to compatriots, to everyone who is united by the big Russian world.
I know that many representatives of the World Russian People's Council are now in Donbas and Novorossiya. Among the volunteers and volunteers, in the ranks of military units, together with comrades-in-arms, millions of people in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions protect our brothers and sisters. I am sincerely grateful to the participants of the World Russian People's Council for the help you provide to the front, to the families of our fallen heroes. They fought for us, for our homeland. Eternal memory to them.
What are we fighting for
Our battle for sovereignty, for justice, is without any exaggeration of a national liberation character, because we defend the security and well-being of our people, the supreme, historical right to be Russia – a strong, independent power, a country-civilization. It is our country, the Russian world, as has happened more than once in history, that has blocked the path of those who claim world domination, their "exclusivity".
We are fighting now for the freedom not only of Russia, but of the whole world. We openly say that the dictatorship of one hegemon – we see it, everyone sees it now – is getting old. She went, as they say, peddling and just dangerous to others. This is already clear to the entire world majority. But I repeat, it is our country that is now at the forefront of the formation of a more just world order. And I want to emphasize: without a sovereign, strong Russia, no lasting, stable world order is possible.
We know what kind of threat we are facing. Today, Russophobia, other forms of racism and neo-Nazism have become practically the official ideology of the Western ruling elites. They are directed not only against the Russian, but against all the peoples of Russia – Tatars, Chechens, Avars, Tuvans, Bashkirs, Buryats, Yakuts, Ossetians, Jews, Ingush, Mari, Altaians. There are many of us, I will not name all of them now, but I repeat – it is directed against all the peoples of Russia.
What does the West want
In principle, the West does not need such a large and multinational country as Russia. Our diversity and unity of cultures, traditions, languages, ethnic groups simply do not fit into the logic of Western racists and colonialists, in their cruel scheme of total depersonalization, separation, suppression and exploitation. Therefore, the old "hurdy–gurdy" was re–launched: they say that Russia is a "prison of peoples", and the Russians themselves are a "people of slaves". We've heard it many times over the centuries. We have also heard that Russia, it turns out, needs to be "decolonized" today. But in fact, what they need is actually to dismember and plunder Russia. It does not work by force – then sow confusion.
I want to emphasize that we regard any interference from outside, provocations aimed at causing interethnic or interreligious conflicts as aggressive actions against our country, as an attempt to throw terrorism and extremism at Russia again as a tool to fight us, and we will respond accordingly accordingly.
We have a large, diverse country. And in this diversity of cultures, traditions, customs is our strength, a huge competitive advantage and potential. We must constantly strengthen it, protect this diverse accord, our common heritage. I draw the attention of the leaders of all the constituent entities of the Federation to this and count here on the authority of the pastors of our traditional religions, on the responsibility of all political forces and public organizations.
We remember the lessons
I think we all remember, we need to remember the lessons of the 1917 revolution and the subsequent Civil War, the collapse of the USSR in 1991. It would seem that so many years have passed, but people of all nationalities living now, even those born in the XXI century, are still paying for the mistakes made then, for indulging separatist illusions and ambitions, for the weakness of the central government, for the policy of artificial, violent division of the great Russian nation, the triune people – Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. The bloody pockets that emerged after the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union are not only still smoldering, but sometimes they flare up with renewed vigor. And these wounds will not heal for a long time.
We will never forget these mistakes and should not repeat them. I want to emphasize again that any attempts to sow interethnic and interreligious discord, to split our society is a betrayal, a crime against the whole of Russia. We will not allow anyone to divide Russia, which we have alone. About her, about our Fatherland – our prayers, which sound in different languages.
And I would like to recall in this audience the words of St. Gregory the Theologian: "To honor the mother is a holy thing. But everyone has their own mother, and the common mother is the Motherland."
What is the Russian World
The theme of the current Council is "The present and future of the Russian World". The Russian world is all the generations of our ancestors and our descendants who will live after us. The Russian world is Ancient Russia, the Moscow Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, it is modern Russia, which returns, strengthens and multiplies its sovereignty as a world power. Russian Russian world unites everyone who feels a spiritual connection with our Homeland, who considers himself a native speaker of the Russian language, history, culture, regardless of national or religious affiliation.
Russian Russians as an ethnic group, without the Russian people, there is not and cannot be a Russian world and Russia itself. In this statement there is no claim to superiority, to exclusivity, to being chosen. It is just a fact, as well as the fact that our Constitution clearly establishes the status of the Russian language as the language of the state-forming people.
Russian is more than a nationality
This has always been the case, by the way, in the history of our country. This includes cultural, spiritual, and historical identity. Being Russian is, first of all, a responsibility. I repeat, there is a huge responsibility for saving Russia, and this is the true patriotism. Russian Russian, I want to say that only a united, strong, sovereign Russia is able to guarantee the future and original development of both the Russian and all other peoples who have lived and are living in our country for centuries, united by a common historical destiny.
What does sovereignty mean for our state, for every family, for every person? What is its meaning, value, and real content? This is, first of all, freedom. Freedom is for Russia and for our people, and therefore for each of us. Because in our tradition, a person cannot feel free if his relatives, children, and his Homeland are not free. It is this kind of genuine freedom that our guys, our men, soldiers and officers, daughters of the Fatherland are defending now.
A free people who understand their responsibility to today and future generations is the only source of power, sovereign power, which is designed to serve all people, all the people, and not, of course, to serve someone's private, corporate, estate, especially foreign, foreign interests.
A truly free person is always a creator. We will support everyone's desire to benefit the country, society, and people. From this comes sovereign development in the national interest.
Our tasks
We have to solve colossal tasks for the arrangement of vast spaces from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic and the Black Sea. Our economy, industry, agriculture, new industries, creative, creative industries, national business should multiply their potential.
I am also addressing entrepreneurs, of whom, I know, there are also many in this hall. I would like to thank you separately, dear friends, for your well-coordinated work. It was by combining the efforts of the state and business that we thwarted the unprecedented economic aggression of the West, its sanctions blitzkrieg failed.
Russia will increase its support for sovereign national entrepreneurship. To do this, we now have fundamentally new tools. Invest in Russia, create jobs, develop production, participate in personnel training – and then the growth of the national economy will translate into new successes and opportunities for your companies. National business, working to strengthen sovereignty, itself becomes stronger and more sovereign, becomes less dependent on all components of today's world order.
The sovereign development of the country, economy, business, and social sphere should bring prosperity to all citizens, all Russian families, and therefore be fair. It's not about primitive equalization, of course not. Justice is, first of all, decent living conditions, modern cultural, healthcare, and sports facilities in all regions of the country. This is a qualified, well-paid job. High social prestige of a worker, engineer, teacher, doctor, artist, cultural worker, entrepreneur, every conscientious specialist, master. Justice also means equal, broad opportunities for study, for a life start, for self–realization of young people.
In the West, they are now practicing not only the policy of "cancellation culture", but also the actual abolition of humanitarian education. As a result, both culture and education become primitive. Many classical subjects are simply thrown out of Western curricula, replaced by some gender and similar sciences - pseudosciences, of course. On the contrary, we need a real breakthrough in cultural life. And here we have a lot to learn from our ancestors, who, both in traditional and, by the way, in avant-garde art, set models for the whole world. I am convinced that the sovereignty of the country and the strengthening of its role in the world are impossible without the flourishing of an original culture in all its manifestations.
And of course, it is important for us to take all the best that the domestic and world classical education system has accumulated. At the same time, our schools, universities, colleges should be modern, open to all the best.
We need a holistic sphere of education in which the family, the education system, national culture, the work of children's, youth, sports, military-patriotic organizations, a broad mentoring movement and, I would add, the wise word of spiritual pastors complement each other harmoniously, it is simply necessary.
About the meaning of family
Yes, the church is separated from the state, and the Patriarch has told me more than once, despite this, we have a unique relationship between the church and the state. What I would like to note in this regard: it is impossible to separate the church from society and from man. I completely agree with this. That is why I stress once again the importance of the participation of representatives of all Russian traditional religions in the education and upbringing of our youth and, of course, in strengthening spiritual, moral, and family values. This is of lasting importance, the participation of our pastors of all our traditional religions.
Your Holiness! Dear friends! You know that a decree has already been signed to declare the next year, 2024, the Year of the Family in Russia. And I want to emphasize that such a decision is really based on the position of the absolute majority of our society. I am sure that the World Russian People's Council also unanimously supports him.
And what I want to say and emphasize here. It is impossible to overcome the most difficult demographic challenges that we are facing only with the help of money, social benefits, allowances, benefits, and individual programs. Yes, of course, the figures of budget "demographic" expenditures are extremely significant, but this is not all. A person's life guidelines are much more important. At the heart of the family, in the birth of a child, there is love, trust, a strong moral support. In no case should we ever forget about it.
Many of our peoples, thank God, have a tradition of a strong, multi-generational family, where four, five or more children are brought up. Let's remember that in Russian families, many of our grandmothers, great-grandmothers had children of seven and eight people, and even more.
Let's preserve and revive these wonderful traditions. Having many children and a large family should become the norm, a way of life for all the peoples of Russia. And the family is not just the foundation of the state and society, it is a spiritual phenomenon, a source of morality.
Support for the family, motherhood, and childhood should cover the work of all spheres of public administration without exception, our economic, social, infrastructure policy, education and education, and healthcare, of course. The activities of all public associations and our traditional religions are also necessary precisely to strengthen the family. Saving and multiplying the people of Russia is our task for the coming decades, and I will say more at once – for generations to come. This is the future of the Russian world, the millennial, eternal Russia.
About the power of the people
Your Holiness! Dear friends! We have many large-scale tasks ahead of us, their solution requires really collective work, and we are ready for it. We have become stronger. Our historical regions have returned to Russia. Society renounces everything that is alluvial, turns to true, authentic values.
Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin stressed at the time that above all is the right based on popular force. And together we have shown such a nationwide force, and such a nationwide will, determination to defend our own, the fundamental interests, the fundamental interests of the peoples of Russia, guided not by others borrowed from someone else, but by our own sovereign worldviews, our understanding of how the family and the whole state should develop, build Russia for ourselves and for our children.
I want to thank you again for your support, for your patriotic attitude and, of course, congratulate you on the 30th anniversary of the World Russian People's Council.
But I want to say special words of gratitude to its head, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
I know what tireless work you, Your Holiness, are doing for the spiritual revival of Russia. I want to emphasize how significant and weighty your position is. How much the Russian Orthodox Church, clergy and laity are doing under your leadership to implement social, charitable, and volunteer projects. What kind of support is provided to our soldiers and their families. How our soldiers and officers on the front line are waiting for the word of the Patriarch.
I am glad to congratulate you today at the World Russian People's Council on the award of the Presidential Prize in 2023 for your contribution to strengthening the unity of the Russian nation. I bow low to you. I wish the Cathedral a successful work.
Thanks!
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