The President of Russia gave a long interview to journalists on the channel “Russia 24”
Photo: REUTERS
ABOUT A MILLION SHELLS
– Of course, we see, we hear, we know about the delivery plans by the West (a million shells and hundreds of tanks to Ukraine. – Ed.). Here are a million shells, is it a lot or a little? Its alot. But. First of all, according to the calculations of our army, the Armed Forces of Ukraine use up to 5,000 shells a day. And in the US, only about 14-15 thousand shells per month of this caliber are produced this year. The next plan is to produce 42,000.
The Russian Armed Forces have been spending much more so far. I do not want to assess the rationality of the decisions at the different levels of military command, but now the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are even forced to introduce limits. But the Russian military-industrial complex is developing at a very rapid pace, which many did not expect. It will produce 3 times more ammunition (than Western supplies to Ukraine. – Ed.).
So we are concerned with this only as an attempt to prolong the conflict.
AND ABOUT HUNDREDS OF TANKS FOR kyiv
– About tanks. Arsonists (NATO. – Ed.) Plan to send about 420 or 440 tanks to Ukraine. During this time, we will produce and modernize more than 1,600. The total number of tanks of the Russian army will be three times the number of tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
I’m not talking about aviation. There is a difference of ten orders of magnitude.
ON THE “NOCITUDE” OF THE URANIUM ADDITIONAL PROJECTS
– This, of course, is not so. The cores of depleted uranium shells (which Britain promises to supply Ukraine. – Ed.) Generate radiation dust. Experts confirm that after its use in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, oncological diseases among citizens have multiplied. This is the first.
If we are talking about Ukraine, then they consider the people living in this territory their own. How are they going to use (depleted uranium ammunition – Ed.) If these residues are going to be dusty, they contaminate the planted areas. This weapon is the most harmful and dangerous for humans. Not just for fighters. But for the people who live in this territory.
Russia, of course, has something to answer. We have hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of those shells. We haven’t used them yet.
ON ISKANDER AND PLANES WITH NUCLEAR ROCKETS
– Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has long raised the issue of the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. There is nothing unusual here either.
First, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their NATO allies in Europe. This, if memory serves me correctly, Germany, Turkey, Holland, Belgium, Italy and Greece. And Alexander Grigoryevich is right, he says: we are his closest allies. Why do the Americans deploy and train their crews with their allies to use this type of weapon? We agreed that we would do the same without violating our international obligations.
We have already helped to re-equip aircraft of the Belarusian Air Force. 10 aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon. We have already delivered the Iskander complex to Belarus. And it can also be a carrier. On April 3 we started training teams. And on July 1 we are finishing the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
ARE WE IMPOSSIBLE ON THE DOLLAR?
– No. We would use the dollar. they don’t give us How can we do the calculations? They are themselves sawing the branch on which they sit. By limiting the use of the dollar, they are shooting themselves in the foot. And, of course, the very fact that they froze our gold and currency reserves. All the countries of the world thought about how reliable the American partners are. And they all concluded: unreliable.
Undoubtedly, this is a big mistake on the part of the US authorities.
ABOUT THE OVERNIGHTS IN THE KREMLIN APARTMENT
– His informal part of the negotiations with Xi Jinping lasted almost 5 hours. What did they talk so much about the first day?
– We had a working lunch, and then I invited the president as a friend to move to another room. I have an apartment here (in the Kremlin – ed.), where I spend a lot of time lately, I work here, I spend the night very often. We moved there and, sitting by the fireplace and drinking tea, we slowly talked about everything. We talk about world affairs. The Chinese president paid close attention to the Chinese peace plan for Ukraine. By the way, on the same day we learned about the West’s deliveries of a million shells to Ukraine and shells with depleted uranium. As if the Westerners did it on purpose in order to somehow disrupt our negotiations or influence them.
Of course, we also talk about our relationships in the economy.
On abstract topics, of course, they talked. Well, they just sat by the fireplace, drank tea and talked for 4 hours. I must say that the President of the People’s Republic of China is a very interesting interlocutor, he is deeply immersed in all the problems, in world affairs, in the economy and in our relations. We, in my opinion, receive mutual satisfaction from these conversations.
ARE WE DEPENDENT ON CHINA?
“It’s not skeptics who talk about this, but envious people,” Putin replied dryly. – In Europe itself, the economy’s dependence on China is growing at a much faster rate. Let them think better of themselves. Everything is the opposite.
ON THE REVOLT OF PENSIONS IN FRANCE
– This is an internal matter of France. But, of course, I understand that our people, of course, remember everything, no one has forgotten anything. I don’t know of countries that do not carry out this type of reform. In the modern world, life expectancy is growing, the number of pensioners is increasing.
As I see it, what is the difference between what is happening in France and ours. First, we still have a 5-year gap between women’s and men’s retirement. In France there is no such difference, the same retirement age.
Second. We have a transitional period of 10 years, and this significantly reduces the burden on citizens.
Well, the main thing is that we have kept all the preferential early retirement schemes, but not in France, where all these benefits have been eliminated. This approach is perceived by citizens as excessively harsh and unfair.
WHY DON’T WE STOP THE DELIVERY OF WEAPONS TO KYIV IN THE FAR APPROACHES
– Our military manage to do something, but not something. Transported secretly, at night. But something manages to get, – Putin said. – There is such a goal, of course. No one should get the idea that the Russian army has a “sloppy” approach to reducing supplies.
WHY I WENT TO THE DPR
“It was time to come and see how the restoration work is going, what else needs to be done,” Putin replied, why he recently went to Mariupol. – It’s one thing when you see it on paper, on the screen, and another… Then I looked at how the clinic is being built, a huge facility. residential areas. I’ll tell you that (the new Nevsky quarter in Mariupol. – Ed.) is no different from a good quarter in Moscow or St. Petersburg. This is a purely work trip, it has been very delayed … Well, there was an unexpected contact with people: I thought they were foot workers, men in work clothes. Turned out they were locals. They were invited to the house. Look how they live. And it was important to feel the mood of the people. Maybe that’s the most important thing.
– Why drive? the journalist asked the President. – After all, an unknown city, trucks go to, tractors.
We do not violate anything. The only thing we violated was that we were driving without a seat belt. In such conditions, it is better not to buckle up in order to quickly get out of the car.
