Tasks of the special operation, support for the military and suspension of participation in START: Putin delivered a message to the Federal Assembly

About the special operation in Ukraine

Putin stressed that the decision to conduct a special military operation was made to ensure the security of Russia and eliminate the threat that came from the neo-Nazi regime that gained power in Ukraine after the 2014 coup.

As the president noted, since 2014, Donbass has been defending the right to live on its own land, being under blockade and undisguised hatred from the Kyiv regime.

“We did our best—really our best!

— in order to solve this problem by peaceful means.

We patiently negotiated a peaceful way out of this most difficult conflict,” Putin stressed.

At the same time, the head of state expressed confidence that Russia "step by step, accurately and consistently" would solve the tasks facing it.

Also on russian.rt.com In the Donetsk direction: the RF Ministry of Defense announced the destruction by the Russian military of two HIMARS installations near Kramatorsk

On the motives of Western countries

As the head of state noted, representatives of the Western countries, who declared their desire for peace in Donbass, were playing for time and encouraging the actions of the Kyiv regime.

According to Putin, the United States and NATO were rapidly deploying their army bases and secret biolaboratories near the Russian borders and mastered the theater of future military operations during maneuvers.

“They were preparing the Kiev regime subject to them, Ukraine enslaved by them, for a big war,” the president emphasized.

Now, Putin continued, Western states “seem to be proud, reveling in their perfidy, calling both the Minsk agreements and the Normandy format a diplomatic performance, a bluff.”

“This disgusting method of deception has been tried many times before.

They behaved just as shamelessly, duplicitously, destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria.

From this shame they will never be washed off.

The concepts of honor, trust, decency are not for them,” the president said.

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At the same time, Putin stressed that Russia does not oppose the people of Ukraine, who “became a hostage of the Kyiv regime” and the West, which occupied this country in the political, military, and economic sense.

“The logical result was social degradation, a colossal increase in poverty and inequality.

And in such conditions, of course, it is easy to scoop up material for military operations.

Nobody thought about people, they were prepared for slaughter and in the end turned into consumables, ”Putin said.

He stressed that the responsibility for inciting the Ukrainian conflict lies with the Western elites and the Kiev regime.

According to the Russian leader, the West uses Ukraine both as a battering ram against Russia and as a training ground.

• Putin on the West's incitement of the situation in Ukraine

At the same time, the President noted that in the case of deliveries of more long-range weapons systems to Kyiv, Russia would be forced to respond.

“The more long-range Western systems will come to Ukraine, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders,” he said.

Matkapital, increase in the minimum wage and support for veterans of the Northern Military District

Speaking about social support, the President proposed a number of measures, in particular, the provision of maternity capital in new regions to families in which children were born in 2007 and later.

“I propose to provide maternity capital in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to families in which children were born since 2007, that is, from the moment this program began to operate throughout Russia.

Let me remind you that we made the same decision at one time for the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol, ”Putin said.

Today, in accordance with the current procedure, the Russian authorities allocate 586.9 thousand rubles for the first child, and 775.6 thousand rubles for the second, if the family did not receive a certificate before his birth.

If earlier parents were already credited with money for the first child, then when a second child appears, they are paid extra 188.7 thousand rubles.

These funds can be spent on improving housing conditions (including paying off mortgages and building housing), getting children educated, forming a funded pension for the mother, purchasing goods and services for social adaptation and integration of children with disabilities into society.

In addition, the president proposed to index the minimum wage (minimum wage) by an additional 10% from January 1, 2024.

“Thus, the minimum wage will increase by 18.5% and amount to 19,242 rubles,” Putin said.

In addition, speaking about support measures for participants in a special military operation, Putin proposed establishing a two-week vacation every six months for mobilized and other military personnel, including volunteers.

• The President proposed to introduce a 14-day vacation for military personnel in the NVO zone

The President also proposed to form a special fund to provide targeted assistance to NMD veterans and the families of the victims.

The head of state believes that the task of the new association will be targeted, personal assistance to the families of the dead soldiers and veterans of the Northern Military District.

“He will coordinate the provision of social, medical, psychological support,” Putin said.

As the president stressed, the family of each participant in the special operation should be in the zone of constant attention.

Suspension of participation in the START treaty

Putin also announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Recall that this agreement was signed in 2010 by the then heads of Russia and the United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama.

The document provided for the mutual reduction of nuclear charges to 1550 units for each of the parties, and the number of deployed carriers - up to 700 units.

“I am compelled to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” the president said, emphasizing that it was a suspension, and not a withdrawal from the agreement.

As Putin noted, the first START Treaty was signed in 1991, when the Russian Federation and the United States did not consider each other opponents.

The current treaty of 2010, according to Putin, contains the most important provisions on the indivisibility of security and on the direct relationship between issues of strategic offensive and defensive weapons.

However, "all this is forgotten" - relations between the two countries have degraded.

This happened, Putin noted, through the fault of the United States, since the United States began to revise the results of the Second World War.

Putin said that NATO actually made an application for the status of a START party.

According to the head of the Russian state, such a formulation of the issue is overdue, since the alliance "includes more than one nuclear power."

The President noted that in early February, the alliance called on Russia to return to the implementation of strategic arms treaties, including in terms of allowing inspections of Russian defense facilities.

According to the President, in the context of today's confrontation, "it sounds like some kind of nonsense."

Speaking about the prospect of returning to START, Putin noted that first you need to understand what countries like France and Great Britain are claiming.

“And how will we take into account their strategic arsenals, that is, the alliance’s combined strike potential,” the Russian leader said.