President Putin : Answers to questions from Pavel Zarubin

Putin is as cool as a cucumber. Please, let us not have an outpouring of dismay on his comment that Russians and Ukrainians are one people and the DNA shows it. Think who he is speaking to. What would be the Ukrainian response? It is hilarious, very sharp and true.

Pavel Zarubin: Mr President, we are at the theatre now, while a new film, Rise of the Empire, is hitting the big screens. I have seen it, and I think it is exciting and appeals to all generations. But never mind about my opinion. I would like to ask yours. They say you have seen the film too.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Yes, I have seen it, and I liked it. I think it is a real work of art. The acting is highly commendable. This is the first point. Second, why did I say that it is a real work of art? The film immerses you in the era, making you feel like a participant in all the events. And I would say that the quality of the production is very high.

I would like to express gratitude to the actors, the creative team and the directors – everyone who worked on the film – for creating it, and to express the hope that as many people as possible will see it. I am confident that they will enjoy it.

Incidentally, when I expressed the hope that as many people as possible would see the film, it occurred to me that, in such cases, some categories of citizens could be granted the right to free viewing of films that provide an objective and comprehensive picture of Russian history or individual stages of its development. I mean schoolchildren, university students and possibly pensioners. In other words, people would save a part of their family budgets, even if a small one (nevertheless, cinema tickets cost 300, 400 or 500 rubles), for some other needs. The government is already doing this, one way or another, for instance, in the framework of the Pushkin Card, and I think it would be right to add this possibility to the Pushkin Card or use some other format.

Pavel Zarubin: I have to ask you about the developments of the past few days.

A number of positive statements have been made after your meeting with Witkoff yesterday. Both Witkoff and Trump are speaking about a peaceful settlement with cautious optimism. Zelensky has started making more cautious and carefully worded statements too. It is also notable that, when asked in a televised interview if he was ready to recognise the loss of territories, he replied, “Yes, I am ready.”

How would you describe your mood?

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I think that it is not their territory but the historical territory of Russia, the more so that the people who live there voted, first, for independence, and second, for their reunification with the Russian Federation, which I would like to emphasise. Therefore, I think that speaking about territorial losses would be inappropriate here.

This is a controversial matter, and one that can be debated indefinitely. As we know, this has caused some of our ill-wishers abroad, or perhaps given them a pretext, primarily in European countries, as we can now see, to unleash an all-out campaign against Russia. They are now constantly talking about Russia posing a threat and launching preparations for war against Russia. I believe that this posture can be described as a form of political schizophrenia. Hopefully, this too shall pass.

It is now obvious to everyone that defeating Russia on the battlefield would be impossible, while inflicting a strategic defeat on it is unrealistic. I think that people who were eager to strategically defeat Russia throughout history, and there are still people of this kind today, unfortunately – these people will realise the present-day reality and understand that living in friendship with Russia is a better option. This serves the interests of their people.

In fact, if we consider the political processes in Europe, to take one example, it becomes obvious that the people of Europe do not want to fight against Russia. I want this message to be heard: We do not want it either, and we are not preparing for any kind of war against Europe. But why has the current Ukrainian leadership decided that the whole world must pay these Ukrainian leaders and fight for them, supply them with weapons, munitions and hardware, etc. – this is something that remains unclear.

Do they want to fight? We do not want to fight against Ukraine. But if the current Ukrainian leaders want to fight, let them fight. However, why do they believe that everyone must pay for this and supply them with weapons?

There is a way for them to make this case, and I can imagine how they might frame this matter. What I mean is that there was a time when someone promised them help. But this assistance was intended to last until the last Ukrainian. This is another major aspect of this issue and this tragedy. Suppose that there are countries in Europe or in other parts of the world who want to fight Russia and make it weaker. But is this a national vision for Ukraine? They keep talking about their readiness to fight until the last Ukrainian. How does the Ukrainian leadership treat its own citizens? Even those who want to fight us abroad treat Ukrainians as expendable. These people are citizens of their country who are waging this battle. Truth be told, we can see the way they are herded together right on the streets as if they were stray dogs and rushed to the frontlines.

By the way, this has serious consequences since it tends to make people less motivated. Yes, there are still highly-motivated nationalist units there. They do exist. But they can rarely be seen fighting on the frontlines, to say the least. It is those who are recruited into the army by force who get to fight on the front edge.

Half a million people have deserted the army, according to official statistics. There were also 300,000 criminal cases launched. But in reality, the number has already reached 500,000 – half a million, and they all but acknowledged this in their public statements. I think that this number could be even higher. By the way, the West knows this well too.

Therefore, from the very first days, we have always advocated a peaceful resolution. In 2014, we were already saying: Let us help you reach an agreement with southeastern Ukraine. Instead, guns and planes were turned against the civilian population, effectively unleashing a war. Then came the Minsk agreements. We always tried to ensure that they could reach an agreement with the part of Ukraine that did not accept the coup. No – they refused. Then, before we launched our actions to protect the people of Donbass, we told them again: Let’s not go to extremes, let’s come to an agreement – no, we will fight. Well, suit yourselves.

Coming back to this, I would like to say that we are ready to negotiate and to look for solutions to this difficult situation – difficult in the sense that these are a brotherly people, you see? What more is there to say? The latest genetic research shows that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Well, some want to think otherwise, to see it differently. All right, we accept this. This is how the history of historical Russia developed; these are the realities of today. But we can reach an agreement.

I think we can reach an agreement. We accept this. But if someone wants it otherwise – fine, so be it. But in any case, we will accomplish our tasks, and all the goals of the special military operation will be achieved.

As for our talks with the representative of the United States administration: yes, we agreed that we are ready to resume our trilateral contacts. The purpose of this new round will be to discuss how the security of Ukraine and Russia can be ensured after peace agreements are reached – a final settlement, not a temporary cessation of hostilities. We are ready to resume these contacts to achieve this goal.

At the same time, the representative of the US administration pointed out that if we are to discuss some future security arrangement for both Ukraine and Russia, then of course we will need to talk about the broader European security architecture. And I agree with this too. Well, let’s see how the situation unfolds in the coming days.