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Vladimir Putin gave his traditional State of the Nation address.

It was apparently so important to the regime that it was even shown in the cinema, as here in Saint Petersburg.

After a good two years of war against Ukraine, the president's attitude has not changed - the others are to blame, Russia is just defending itself.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President


»It is clear that the West is trying to drag us into an arms race.

To wear us down like that and repeat the trick they used to succeed with the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

The majority of the population supports the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

There was also a minute's silence for them - although not for the deaths in the country that he and his troops have been attacking for two years, but exclusively for the fallen Russian soldiers.

Putin made another reference to his own nuclear weapons with a view to French President Emmanuel Macron, who a few days ago did not want to rule out the use of NATO ground troops in Ukraine for all time.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President


»We also have a weapon that can hit targets in their territory.

Everything they are currently coming up with to scare the world creates the real threat of conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, which means the destruction of civilization.

Don’t you understand, do you?”

Putin also recalled the existence of the Russian hypersonic missile called Kinschal.

However, without mentioning that, according to Western defense experts, this is so far less powerful than expected.

In the cinema in Saint Petersburg, the audience followed the speech with great interest.

And with an eye for detail.

Alexander Ivanov, moviegoer


»I would have watched it on TV anyway, but when in the cinema you can see scales on the shoulders of the comrades and the expressions on their faces, it is far more interesting to see it in the cinema.

It’s a shame not many people showed up.”

Putin wants to be re-elected as president on March 17th.

There is no doubt about the result because a real opposition is not allowed to vote.

The country's most important opposition figure to date, Alexei Navalny, will be buried on Friday in this cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow.

He died in a penal colony in Siberia in mid-February.

His family and colleagues accuse the regime of murder.