Dmitry Medvedev's Roundtable Interview

Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev held a roundtable discussion on 22 February 2024 with journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda, RIA Novosti, TASS, Radio Mayak and Lenta.ru. It was only brought to my attention today. The 90-minute video of the event along with a coarse English transcript are available at the GlobalSouth website. The transcript that follows is much smoother. Each media outlet ran a different headline for the interview: TASS’s read, “Dmitry Medvedev: I hate Russia's enemies;” RIA Novosti’s, “Dmitry Medvedev: the scenario of a nuclear conflict is real and must be avoided;” Lenta.ru’s, “"Either life with Russia, or endless war" Dmitry Medvedev - on the future of Ukraine, enemies, Navalny and the ultimate goal of the NWO;” Komsomolskaya Pravda’s, “Dmitry Medvedev - Komsomolskaya Pravda: "There is no need to run to the bunker yet, but nuclear war is really real;"“ while Radio Mayak had no headline since it’s radio. Rather dreadful, yes? At 90 minutes, the read will be long. Questions are bolded; italics and bolded italics are used as my emphasis:

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, first of all, thank you for the invitation, which has already become a tradition.

"Yes, at this round table.

— If the beginning of the year, then the first question will be just global. Judging by your social media posts in January and February, there are subtle arguments about preventing existential threats — it's just a quote from you, but it's easier to write than to say-this year...

- Practice.

— I trained for a very long time. This year, you should not expect such subtle reasoning from you. What do you expect from 2024?

— The year is already, in fact, in full swing, it's already the middle of February. So it is quite obvious that certain trends have been formed. What am I waiting for? Well, I think, like the vast majority of our citizens, I am waiting for victory in a special military operation. And this is probably the focus of all our efforts. I am waiting for the return of all our defenders who are taking part in this operation. Whether it will work out or not is a question that will be decided just this year. But the trends that have formed now, they are not bad.

Everything else — the country lives, works, develops, despite all the difficulties of the current life. I hope that all this will continue during the remaining months of the year.

— good.

— About subtle existential problems. You know, there are always more subtle arguments, less subtle ones. The question is the degree of depth of analysis of certain problems.

So, if you read my writings, you probably notice that there are subtle arguments interspersed with very ordinary, simple, and sometimes harsh ones. So it will be both.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, I will continue. When you were president and prime Minister, both in Russia and in the West, you were considered, if you look at the top of the Russian government, a very liberal democratic politician. In recent years, your political image has changed a lot, and you are called the main hater on behalf of the Russian government on the Internet. I've written out some of your expressions that have become popular. I'll read it out. In relation to colleagues from the US and the EU: "Atlantic impotents", "a pack of barking dogs from the Western kennel", "a mismatched pack of grunting piggies". And in relation to the French Foreign Ministry, you even — which we did not expect from you at all-used an obscene word. It is interesting that, fortunately, we do not hear this in relation to you and our authorities. The question, in fact, is that history is cyclical and sooner or later we will have to put up and somehow negotiate. Are you personally not afraid to become a non-handshake politician in the international arena? Surely you want to continue your political career in this direction?

"Look at this. The qualities that have been attributed to me and are still attributed to me are always someone's subjective assessments. Those who wanted to see me as a liberal politician — and these are certain circles in the West and in our country, some circles or people-they saw. So, I really was what I was, and I still am, as they say in the Russian people. Another question is that, of course, in the current situation, the assessments have changed, but they have changed for one simple reason — because we believe that we, the Russian Federation, were treated unfairly, and therefore there are more stringent assessments.

But as for my internal assessments and feelings, I can assure you that they have not changed significantly. Probably, like any politician, I had some illusions and ideas a little different, but they didn't change much. Just recently, the president said that we have been flirting with them for too long. Well, probably, yes, our country had such a phase of development. They should have been given an extremely strict answer to all their questions earlier.

As for the fact that I am afraid that someone there will not say hello or will not shake hands. Let them also ask me to give them my hand. Secondly, when relations normalize, the absolute majority of current politicians in the West will go into political oblivion, they will disappear. And I will say about some of them as I have been saying lately: some of them will simply die. And therefore, those who want to build relations with Russia should show it in a direct, undisguised, frank form. There are such people, and, of course, their number will grow, but in this sense I am absolutely sure that in the near future a major rapprochement with the West, with Western Europe, with the United States of America, with the Anglo-Saxon world will not happen. The gap between us is too deep, a watershed, if you will. And it will be very, very difficult to overcome it.

— Recently, a number of Western publications have published articles on the topic that one should not dream of some possible defeat of Russia in Ukraine, because the focus of the West, the focus of the United States, has shifted to the Middle East. What do you think such publications say, who they are actually addressed to, and what conclusions should the Western audience and the Western elite draw from these publications?

— These publications, of course, are intended primarily for the Western elites themselves, who need to be properly nurtured and given the right signals. Before that, the main calculation was for the defeat of Russia, taking into account the hybrid war that was unleashed against us, taking into account the fact that the entire Western world is opposing us. Naturally, all the Western media — as you all know very well, because you are following this—was full of headlines about how Russia is about to collapse, split into parts, Russia does not have enough power to resist the Atlantic war machine, and so on. Events are developing in a completely different scenario. Naturally, they should react to this in some way.

If we talk about signals that it's time to take a break, it's time to start negotiations, then to a large extent this is, of course, such a clever move. It's not very clever, let's be honest, but the proposals are designed to ensure that we will stop the SVO, military operations will not take place, Russian lands will not return to their native bosom, and at this moment they will get a break, concentrate, supply various Western weapons, and then they will stage another counteroffensive, which will be somewhat more successful than the failure that took place last year. Such publications are also designed for this purpose.

In part, if you will, this is part of such a propaganda campaign and even those visits that special services make, breaking this story in a variety of environments. That's probably what they're designed for.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, Anastasia Savinykh, TASS news agency. In recent days, we have seen a great success of the Russian Armed Forces near Avdiivka. Yesterday, the president met with the Defense Minister, they discussed all the details, but in Ukraine immediately after that, of course, many began to accuse the new commander-in-chief that it was his fault, they recalled his Russian origin. In your opinion, are we so lucky with Syrsky, or is this still the result of long-term combat work? And I will immediately allow myself to ask in continuation of this question. Here Avdiivka was taken, but the shelling of Donetsk continues, unfortunately. In your opinion, what are the general limits of a special military operation? Should we go to Kiev, maybe to Lviv? Will there still be any part of Ukraine that we will consider a legitimate state, whose borders we will be ready to recognize?

— If we talk about Avdiivka, an analysis of what happened was given yesterday. This is certainly a major success for the Russian Armed Forces. Everyone who took part in this operation is a hero. And we need to talk about this directly. These are, of course, not some cheesy troops, but our valiant Armed Forces, which concentrated, conducted long-term training and made this breakthrough.

You probably all noticed — after all, such a fortified area, which was created in the area of Avdiivka, was not created for a year or two. These are really very serious structures, fortifications, defenses, and this made it possible to keep this settlement. Therefore, it was a difficult task, but our Armed Forces coped with it brilliantly. I would like to congratulate everyone once again on this event.

As for where to go, I will express my point of view, which, in my opinion, corresponds to the current picture of the day. We need to fully protect our interests. What does it mean to fully ensure our interests? First, we need to fulfill the tasks of the CBO that the President mentioned. Secondly, to create the necessary protective cordon that will insure against any kind of encroachment on our lands: not only shelling, but also active offensive operations. And only in this case it will be possible to recognize that the tasks are completed.

Where to stay? I don't know. I think that taking into account what I have said, we will still have to work hard and seriously. Will it be Kiev? Yes, it should probably be Kiev, too. If not now, then after some time, maybe in some other phase of the development of this conflict. For two reasons: Kiev is a Russian city, and it poses a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation. An international threat, because although Kiev is a Russian city by its roots, it is run by an international brigade of opponents of Russia, led by the United States of America. All those who formally perform their functions there are puppets who have no conscience, no fear for the future of their country, and no opportunities. All decisions are made overseas and at NATO headquarters. This is quite obvious. Therefore, yes, it can also be Kiev.

If, as a result of all that is happening, something remains of Ukraine, then, probably, such a state has a chance to survive, although not very large. And in any case, this issue is certainly not today's issue, but it will be on the agenda in a while. We must guarantee the future of Russia, and without the defeat of this nationalist, pro-fascist clique in Kiev, this is impossible, this regime must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world.

What will remain in this territorial entity, I can't call it a country now, I don't know, maybe the Lemberg region with the center in the city of Lemberg, if the Poles are very busy about it, or some other regions. But this is not only a complex military process, but also a political one. And not only the Armed Forces, not only the troops, but also the people who inhabit these lands should have their say in this process.

I have repeatedly said that the current Ukrainian state is dangerous for the Ukrainians themselves. And for them, this choice looks like this: either life in a normal, common state with Russia, or, in any case, on some close basis to the common state, or endless war. They must make this choice for themselves.

- In continuation of the topic of Ukraine, how do you assess Zelensky's prospects today? In your opinion, how loyal are his subordinates to him? Can there be another coup d'etat in Ukraine? And if so, who should we negotiate with, if at all?

— I think that this is a secondary issue, from the point of view of who to negotiate with. A holy place is never empty. As for this character, his fate is certainly sad — in the history of his country, in the history of the world, he will remain as a bloody clown who became famous thanks to well-known publications and who did not bring anything good to his people. And, probably, it will be remembered for the fact that he played the piano with filigree parts of his body. That's all I can say about him.

But it's not about him. But the fact is that the elites themselves, who now rule in Kiev, must leave. Someone will say hello, and someone is forced. And there should be completely different people who realize their responsibility for the future of the people who inhabit this complex, still existing entity called "Ukraine". When such people appear, you can somehow negotiate with them.

Although we did not refuse to negotiate even with this clique, but you know what they did: they have banned these negotiations, and even attempts by Western countries to push them in this direction have so far failed. You can understand why. Because they will realize as soon as they say: "We are ready for negotiations with the Russian Federation" - and their conditions are clear: this is a recognition of the results of the SVO — they will immediately have their heads torn off, they will be demolished. And so, of course, they try as much as possible to delay the moment when they will have to pack their bags and leave for Warsaw or London, but this is at best. At worst, it is clear what will happen.

— Thank you!

"Please!"

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, you had a forecast of three options about how Ukraine will disappear from the world map. You thought the third one was the best, when the Western lands join a number of EU countries, the people of the central and some other unmanaged regions declare self-determination by joining the Russian Federation. Hungary, Romania and Poland, as you know, have already made their own territorial claims at the end of last year, this year. In the West, as you just said, there are more and more supporters of fixing the situation along the line of a military clash. However, at the moment, at the end of February, which of your options are currently developing?

— In fact, none of these options can be rejected yet. The main thing is that events are developing in general in the trend that I wrote about. Whether this will end in a slow erosion and collapse of power in Kiev or a momentary collapse, collapse of the entire political system and rapid replacement of the main political characters is still difficult to say. But this process is going on, and, obviously, it cannot be stopped. And everything that happens on the line of contact, everything that happens in the area of the Free Zone, is the best proof of these trends.

How this will happen, I do not know, but it will certainly happen. And everyone understands this. Therefore, there are a lot of analysts either openly, or those who are still afraid and shy, somewhere on the sidelines, say that yes, like this, we will not be able to defeat Russia in this sense, of course. Although they publicly declare all sorts of nonsense, carry some kind of political blizzard, that: "We must not allow Russia to win this war." I was recently forced to speak out on this topic. What does this mean — "not to allow victory"? On the terms that Kiev speaks? That is, to take away from Russia our territories, which were included in the Constitution of the Russian Federation as a result of a referendum, and our newly annexed lands, our subjects of the Federation that returned to Russia? It is clear that this is a world catastrophe, this is a real, full-fledged Third World War.

Therefore, these irresponsible statements of all sorts of Scholz, Borreli and others, they are intended only for the public, they do not believe in it themselves, but they are forced, like a mantra, to repeat it. Just to justify the huge expenditure on the corresponding military budgets.

So far, everything is developing exactly according to this scenario. I won't make any more precise forecasts yet.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, former President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko in his interview with Deutsche Welle (recognized as a foreign agent-approx. TASS) stated: "The question is not about Putin. The bearers of Putinism are 140 million of these "little Putins" who must be destroyed." Do you think that our media should retransmit such statements in order to show the essence of this Nazi regime and all the elites in Ukraine, or, on the contrary, it is better not to focus on such statements, which in their essence are calls for genocide?

— My opinion: it should be emphasized to the maximum extent. Yushchenko is a rare freak with a lumpy, disgusting face, with a muzzle so disgusting that it is unpleasant even to look at it on TV. But it is necessary to convey this information to everyone: to the world community, of course, to our citizens, to the military personnel who protect our country. This opinion, despite my assessment of this character, the former president of Ukraine. They are trying to blame us for something, and the former president of Ukraine makes such statements. However, its essence was clear to me, in any case, already in 2010, when I, as president, was forced to give the toughest possible assessment to the leader of Ukraine, which was extremely unusual in general for that period — we still tried to build relations with them somehow. But even then, in fact, he actively began to move towards NATO and prepare for war with Russia. This is not even Kuchma, who said that Ukraine is not Russia. This is a completely different kind of character. Therefore, my opinion is that we should talk about this so that everyone knows.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, back in October last year, President Vladimir Putin said that Odessa can be both a bone of contention and a symbol of conflict resolution. Since then, monuments to Empress Catherine II have been demolished in Odessa, and in recent months there have been discussions about how to dismantle the monument to Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, which even in Soviet times stood. How do you assess such a policy of the Ukrainian authorities? What can Russia do to oppose the destruction of Russian cultural and historical heritage other than military force? And what kind of fate would you wish for Odessa and its residents?

— About Odessa, I can simply say: Odessa, come home. That's all. We have been waiting for Odessa in the Russian Federation, even because of the history of this city, what kind of people live there, what language they speak. This is our Russian, Russian city.

As for their behavior, this Kiev clique, the Kiev regime, at least this is short-sighted, because they simply alienate some people, even those who were loyal to their government until recently. And in general, it looks monstrous, because we are already talking about countering the entire Russian culture and our common path.

Here they are demolishing monuments. But we have never, even in our thoughts, had such a thing! All the main Ukrainian characters, with the exception of outright Nazis, Bandera various, we have always treated them with respect. I'm not even talking about those people, those classics that are, in general, the pride of Ukrainian. I also mean Shevchenko, although he wrote a significant part of his works in Russian, Lesya Ukrainka. I'm not even talking about Gogol, who is generally one of the outstanding Russian and Ukrainian writers.

As if immediately answering a sub-question that may arise here: I assume that in general, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. These are not two fraternal nations. This was discussed only in the XX century after the destruction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. They are one people. Yes, there are language features, there is a classic Russian language, there is a South Russian dialect, there is a Little Russian dialect, including Surzhik, which is used by a significant part of the population there, there is a classic Ukrainian language. However, this does not mean that they are different peoples. These peoples have been together for a thousand years, separated by different historical events. I'm not even talking about the fact that at some point Russia was forced to come to the aid of the inhabitants of these Little Russian territories and expel all uninvited guests, Poles and others, and conclude the necessary agreements that allowed this part of Russia to develop independently, and not under the heel of individual Western countries.

It is true that certain territories that are not directly related to Russia were actually included in Ukraine. But there, the mood is different, and the approaches are different, and they always looked in a certain direction. You know, it's always been like this. Here I remember my school years: I first encountered this, I was probably 15 years old, and we went to Tallinn with the school. Tallinn also had its own moods, it was well known, but we were treated like school children, and as I remember now, we were put to sleep on mats in the gym. And all of a sudden, we're almost out of the way, and a crowd comes in. The guys are such, and dressed up, excited: "Let's go talk!" Well, we went to chat. I ask: "Where are you from?" Students are just like us. "We are from Lviv," he says. No, everything was decent, we chatted there, talked, talked. But you know what I noticed — it was extremely surprising for me, I was a normal, ordinary Soviet schoolboy, this is some kind of 1980 or 1981? In their words, and these were children, there was an undisguised hatred for everything Soviet and partly Russian. For me, as a person who was brought up in international traditions — we didn't even know who was of what nationality in the class — it was very surprising. Maybe I didn't even think so much about it at first, but then I realized that these children who came to meet us were also children from the families of those Bandera members who were brought up in this atmosphere, and already, as they say, absorbed hatred for everything Russian with their mother's milk.

But this is a very special part of that territorial community. I can't call it a country in the full sense, and it wasn't a country at that time, it was just a republic within the USSR, which was called Ukraine, as you know, which appeared there as a result of the political events of the first half of the XX century.

— I wanted to talk about relations with the United States. In your opinion, if Trump wins the US election, will it be more convenient for Russia to build relations with him? And in general, in the long run, is it possible to improve relations between Russia and America in the coming years, and if so, under what conditions could this happen? And is it possible to return at least to the discussion of agreements that have ceased to be valid now?

— My current position allows me to speak more categorically and openly than in certain other periods, without regard to the need to build any direct diplomatic communications there.

I'll answer simply: impossible. In the coming years, decades, there will be no normal relations with the United States of America after what happened. And by and large, we are completely indifferent to who is at the helm of the United States government. Yes, they have personality traits. Although, looking at the current president and the previous one, I constantly get the feeling that I am watching comic book characters, in a certain sense heroes who utter memes, form memes and who are the reason for endless jokes and all that the Internet and social networks are full of. Why am I talking about this? Compare, for example, Biden, on the one hand, and Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, and even the same Reagan. Well, these are fundamentally different policies. And this is probably a big problem for America.

I will now say one more thing: what is America's strength? I ask you not to think about some kind of conspiracy theory, talking about it completely seriously. When they talk about the deep state, if you don't take all sorts of stupid theories, but speak seriously, this deep state is just a very strong state apparatus at the middle level, which doesn't care who is in power: a democrat or a Republican, a funny grandfather who forgets the names of leaders of other countries, or a very strong leader. This state apparatus holds everyone in its hands. And this is exactly what allows America to overcome a variety of obstacles. In fact, creating such a state apparatus is a very serious and big task, and this should be treated with respect, it allows them to overcome a lot of difficulties. But even this state apparatus is not able to fully remove the problems and contradictions that a particular leader can bring. When you look at what they're doing on the border with Mexico... I can hardly imagine it under another president. Well, direct defiance of federal authority, and there's nothing the supreme ruler of the United States can do about it when the state leader says: "I will not follow your instructions. We will not enforce the Supreme Court's decisions. We don't obey the National Guard, we obey our own laws, and we have our own guard. We will carry out these tasks." This is such a very colorful touch, showing the depth of contradictions. And they are connected with the fact that the United States is trying, despite its declining forces, to play first fiddle in the international arena.

Instead of — in this case, it's really hard to disagree with a number of legislators in America—strengthening their own country, dealing with these problems at the border, and solving the most pressing social problems that exist in any state, including in rich America, they are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a country that most Americans do not know where it is located. Well, it's a well-known thing. Ask, where is this Ukraine? They will spend a long time looking for where it is and what it is on the world map.

It is clear that this money is largely used to support the military-industrial complex of the United States, but, on the other hand, it is not spent on social tasks, on economic tasks. Therefore, giving a detailed answer about who we should work with is absolutely all the same as who we should work with. Because we have a direct antagonism now, and this gap will not be bridged in the coming years.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, developing the previous question: when will Europe stop listening to the United States and being their satellite?

— You know, according to the feelings that I have now, this will not happen in the coming years. There are several reasons. First, the Americans have taken very good advantage of Europe's weakness. We have recaptured a number of economic spheres from them, fully ensuring their security, that is, the Europeans are marching on the orders of the United States.

Secondly, in Europe, as I have repeatedly said, leaders have disappeared. A generation of lackluster technocrats has arrived who share only Euro-Atlantic ideals. Instead of dealing with their own national problems, they follow instructions from Washington. Yes, there are exceptions, like [Robert] Fico or [Viktor] Orban, but that just confirms the rule. And all the others are people who do not have their own position.

Again, compare [Emmanuel] Macron and many of his predecessors. Yes, the same [Francois] Mitterrand, whom [Joe] Biden confuses with Macron. Francois Mitterrand and Emmanuel Macron are different presidents. Maybe this will be important information for them. But I'm not even talking about General [Charles] de Gaulle. Compare the liver sausage of [Olaf] Scholz and [Helmut] Kohl (Helmut Kohl — Federal Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998-approx. TASS)or Schmidt (Helmut Schmidt — Federal Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982-approx. TASS). These are different policies.

The previous generation had, as they say, the inner strength to object on important issues for their countries. This does not mean that they went over to our side or abandoned any European ideals. No, but they might have objected. To such an extent that during the period when de Gaulle was president of France, France suspended participation in the military component of NATO, it considered it right. Can you imagine anyone even mentioning that now? They'll tear him apart, they'll say: "Yes, we will immediately be attacked, the Cossacks will ride around Paris again, and there will simply be a world collapse!" So there is no one to talk to. If such people appear, it will be easier to find a common language with them. I hope that they will appear, if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. People will simply ask such people to come, because they feel that the current generation of politicians does not live up to their hopes.

"Can I talk about Texas?"

"Yes, it's a beautiful place.

"Bush Sr. has a ranch there, too.

"Yes, I was there.

— You have already raised the topic of possible independence of the state of Texas several times in social networks. Can the situation with illegal migrants lead to the loss of a star on the US flag and the emergence of a new independent state?

— I wrote in my humorous forecast that it will be. Now we are all waiting for the conclusion of a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the TNR and the DPR-the Texas People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic. But in fact, if we talk seriously, even 20 years ago this would have seemed nonsense. Yes, the United States is a federation, and the federation has more internal problems, as we know from the experience of the Soviet Union and our own experience, but nevertheless it is a very strong country. And now it is quite discussed.

Most importantly, why? Because there was such a division of values, if you will, even civilizational, between parts of America. And the relationship between supporters of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We used to laugh and say: "Yes, it's all the same, it's all big capital, and they have a single position, there are only certain points that are used during the election campaign." And now you can't say that anymore. It's not the difference in ideology, but the fact that they don't hear each other and even hate each other. Here's a look at the attitude of the nuclear democratic electorate to Donald Trump. They hate him more than all of us put together, because they see him as a threat. Conversely, the Trumpists, the conservative wing of the Republican Party, believe that this course, the course of the Democrats, this frenzied globalization will lead America to a dead end. Hence, Make America great again is the slogan for reviving America's inner strength. This is their problem, in fact, but it was impossible to imagine that this would happen 20-25 years ago. And this happened precisely because of the incompetent course pursued by the US leadership after the collapse of the Soviet Union. [Which was 24-34 years ago.]

— So a new state may appear?

— I think that's what I said. Anything can happen. Now this is really not an excluded option. That's what they say about it.

By the way, if you think that we are very happy about this, then no. Because for all the costs of co-existing, let's be honest, enmity with the United States, it is more important for us to have a calm situation there than to have a managerial collapse or some unpredictable civil war like in the 19th century. For one simple reason: America is still the most important global player. America has a huge military potential, and America is our direct opponent in this sense, and on the other hand, a partner for negotiations on nuclear capabilities. America, unfortunately for the global economy, is the leading issuer of the reserve currency. And if this currency crashes, then in fact the consequences will be for everyone. You need to be aware of this. We need to gradually replace the dollar from the first positions, there should be a set of reserve currencies — something that we have been talking about for decades. But if you pull out the dollar at the same time, economic prosperity in the world will not come. The world should have a balance between reserve currencies, we need to develop digital currencies — this is the future, but we need to understand the risks that exist.

— The situation in the Middle East is also tense, and what will happen if Iran gets involved in a military conflict? Can this completely shift the West's attention away from supporting Ukraine? And in general, how will this affect global processes?

— Well, this is a terrible dream of the character who is currently sitting in Kiev, that all attention will be shifted to other events. This, by the way, is an element of the psychotype: if a person is used to acting, playing, as I said, on different instruments, then the lack of attention makes him completely unsure, because "I am not needed". But in reality, the world lives, of course, according to other laws. Attention is already largely diverted from Ukraine by events in the Middle East and a number of other regions.

Iran, which you mentioned, I think, takes a very balanced, calm position, does not allow itself to be drawn into any showdowns. This shows the wisdom of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But in the end, no matter how banal it may sound, all that is happening there is again the fault of the United States. Who is blocking the implementation of the 1947 United Nations resolution on the establishment of a Jewish and Arab State? Americans have been blocking it for decades. For the first few decades, they behaved more or less normally, and then they stopped being active here. And we understand that the majority stake in the settlement in this region largely lies in the pocket of the United States. And no matter how much the Israeli authorities play at decision-making autonomy, this is certainly not the case, and they are largely dependent on financial and military assistance from the United States.

Therefore, if the United States wanted peace in the Middle East, at least through a two-State solution, these decisions would have been implemented. But it is much better to manage the conflict from the point of view of the leadership of the United States of America. Divide and conquer. It is easier for everyone to distribute a little bit and show their indispensability. Moreover, they believed in it, again after the disappearance of the Soviet Union from the world map. Because the Soviet Union was also quite active in pursuing its policy in the Middle East. Then there was a vacuum, and the United States decided that they were running everything there. But the result is the conflict that is going on now. Thousands of dead. It is sad.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, you just mentioned the United States as a nuclear power. I have a question about the use of nuclear weapons: if a year ago it seemed like some kind of horror stories and you also somehow talked about it quite easily, now your rhetoric is changing to a tougher one and you are talking about the threat of using nuclear weapons, as it seems in the public space, quite seriously. We all understand that if Russia pushes the nuclear button for one reason or another, then there, across the ocean, they push back. Well, or vice versa, they push — we push. This is a threat to all of humanity, and probably there are not so many masochists even in the highest echelons of power. Still, can you explain how much of this is a horror story, or do you really believe in the realism of such a scenario? Do we have to run to some bunker now, at least for all of us?

— There is no need to run now, but, sad as it may sound, this scenario is real. We must do everything possible to prevent it from taking place, but this very clock, which is ticking in a certain direction, it has now accelerated very much. And in this I also see the inability, sorry, impotence of these Western authorities, who constantly repeat the same thing: "No, it's all the Russians who are scaring us, they will never do it." They're wrong. If we are talking about the existence of our country — as I also said recently — what choice will remain for the leadership, for the head of state? None. This is why, unfortunately, it is a real threat, a direct and clear threat to all of humanity.

There are still arguments that, unfortunately, can be made in this direction. First of all, when mankind created something from weapons, it always used them. The Americans, what do they think, here they have delivered--by the way, unnecessary then--a blow to Japan, which was our common enemy, and after that everything, no one will ever take it out of the arsenal? That's not so. There can be a lot of motives. This is the first one.

And the second. There are still accidents from which no one is immune. And the accidental, unintentional start of a nuclear conflict cannot be discounted, so all these games around Ukraine are extremely dangerous. Well, look, if someone comes to mind, and periodically these clever people in NATO talk about this, they will put planes — they have nowhere to fly especially from Ukraine so far - and if some plane takes off from a NATO country-what is it? An attack on Russia. I won't even go on to describe what might happen. While this may happen almost by accident, rather than intentionally, it may not even be authorized at the level of the entire leadership of NATO and the United States. Therefore, alas, such a development is possible.

We must do everything possible to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, all the full-fledged instruments of nuclear control and deterrence have now been destroyed, in our opinion, thanks to the efforts of Western countries, because even the last treaty that we once signed with [Barack] Obama and which was extended by Vladimir Vladimirovich together with Biden, it has now exhausted itself. Other agreements are also practically non-existent.

This is not whipping up passions. It's just a reason to think about where we are. For some reason, people, you know, when they think that Khrushchev and Kennedy almost started a nuclear war there, it was a long time ago, it was not true, it was because of Cuba, it was because of something else, and at present it is impossible. What's the difference? Nothing. The situation is even more tense. Then there was no conflict between Russia and America, but now there is. Like that.

— I would like to defuse the situation a little, so let's talk about a bright future. In particular, let's turn to the domestic agenda and talk about the returned Russian regions. How does the Russian leadership assess the situation in terms of political construction and economic recovery? Surely there is such a problem as zhduns-these are the people who received Russian passports, because it is more convenient, but in their hearts they are waiting for the arrival of Ukrainian tanks - what to do with them? And there is one more nuance, it is quite subtle and probably painful. Surely there are people who are registered according to documents somewhere in the regions of Donbass, but it so happened that they are fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And when it's over, when it's over, when we win, absolutely, what will happen to them? Will they get Russian passports or what?

— About the general situation with the new subjects of the Russian Federation. They are developing, there are obvious changes for the better, the housing stock is being restored, the industry is being restored, the social sphere is being restored, payments are being made-this is seen by the people who live there. But the situation is different everywhere, there are settlements that live, in fact, on the line of contact. This is a very difficult story, our people there risk their lives every day, and everyone should remember this. These people, in fact, are at the front. But nevertheless, life is changing, and much has already been done, but not enough to normalize life to the level that we expect.

There is a task set by the president by 2030: to make the residents of these territories, these regions equal to other regions of our country in terms of basic parameters. This task is absolutely feasible, just look at the experience that we have gained in the Crimea.

When I first got there, it seemed to me that we were a generation apart in terms of the development of the social sphere, medicine, and education. Well, nothing, for five years, everything has been greatly tightened up. The same thing can be done here, but only when everything is finally resolved in the military direction. This is the first one.

As for people. You know, there are different people there. You said they are sitting and waiting for Ukrainian tanks — I think there are not so many of them there. There are just people sitting there thinking: "Whoever is stronger, we will serve them." There are certainly such people there. But nevertheless, we must work with everyone. Well, we need to convince these people that we're back for good. If these are people who harm Russia, they should be exposed and punished, sent to Siberia. Like that. For re-education in correctional labor camps.

As for those who are currently fighting. You see, here you can recall some events of the history of the XX century. When the Second World War ended, the leaders of Hitler's Germany, activists of the NSDAP, SS, and the party and political apparatus were tried. Some were executed, there were not many of them, some were simply convicted. But the vast majority of the participants in the German war machine returned home, they were forgiven if they were not convicted of crimes against humanity, genocide, extermination of people on the basis of nationality, and so on. In a sense, the same scale should be applied here. We don't kill prisoners. On the contrary, we treat them humanely. You see, recently they have been actively surrendering, because they understand that if they stay there, they will die, if they are captured, they will most likely return home sometime.

— Does United Russia take part in the preparation of Putin's election program? And your forecast for the election, what do you think the result will be?

— The President is the leader of our country. The United Russia party, as you know, at its congress unanimously supported his candidacy. We are doing our best to help promote our candidate, although Vladimir Vladimirovich is doing fine in this regard, he has tremendous authority in our country.

As for the election program, the president forms it himself. Moreover, I will say directly: the president's program may be broader than the United Russia program. Even taking into account the fact that the president is supported not only by those who vote for United Russia. Therefore, we will certainly be ready to implement the ideas with which the president goes to the polls. Some of them, in fact, in this pre-election spirit, probably, he will voice during the delivery of the message at the end of this month.

As for the forecasts: I think there is no doubt that Vladimir Vladimirovich will win these elections and show the highest result.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, it's no secret that you are an active Internet user.

— It's not a secret at all, probably 20 years, if not more.

— In this regard, your opinion is very interesting. Do I need to block the external Internet connection? And how to provide some kind of protection of our Internet space from toxic content, from active Internet scammers who simply demonstrate miracles of ingenuity in their attempts...

"Well, that's why they're crooks.

"...yes, to win money. But the saddest thing is that these funds often go to our enemies to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and some things that are destructive for us. This is one point. And I also have a sub-question. It is not directly related, but indirectly. We often talk about the need to ensure intellectual sovereignty, and here, too, the savvy of our citizens probably plays an important role. In your opinion, is it necessary to speed up the announced steps on education reform?

— You have a few questions. So I'll start by asking if we need to separate ourselves. No, of course, and this is almost impossible in the modern world. You can tweak something there a little, you can block something, let's put it bluntly, but it's unrealistic and unnecessary to completely isolate yourself. The more such segments appear, the more interest there is in them, this should be understood. Another question is that you really need to put blocks on destructive things, destructive ones, and various kinds of criminal activity. For example, with the same drugs. But it should be very, very selective.

As far as protecting our critical technologies and critical information infrastructure is concerned, this is the most important task. It was set up quite a long time ago, and we need to move faster. You know, I head the commission on digital sovereignty and critical information technologies. There is a task to transfer all software related to critical infrastructure to Russian rails by 2025. It's not an easy task, because we don't have everything. Plus, there is a conservatism of thinking in companies, such as that a foreign language is better than ours and therefore let us work on it again. But the fact that such threats exist, everyone was convinced after the behavior of Western countries, for example, with ordinary cars. People bought-bought cars from them, then-bam, there is no update. But this is just a car or some other equipment, and when it comes to power plants, other infrastructure elements, transport, and others, this is already a very serious threat. Therefore, we will definitely promote this topic.

As for the education reform... I don't really understand, do you mean what exactly is in the reform?

— We are trying to build a patriotic upbringing and education. And a savvy person is much easier to resist the same destructive content, it just bounces off him, he is not led to any provocations.

"An educated person can always tell black from white.

"Naturally, yes. Therefore, then it is not terrible, there is no need to block off some kind of iron curtain in terms of the Internet and so on.

"I understand now. Yes, of course, it is absolutely certain that a person who is well-advanced in these areas is easier to navigate, and it is more difficult for scammers to have a conversation with him, although they always come up with something new. But this is a matter of general enlightenment. Look at how it happened — I remember it, probably, the growing of Russia into the Internet environment. When the Internet became popular in general — I'm not talking about the 1990s, although I've been an Internet user since the 1990s-some people, especially older people, believed everything that is on the Internet: "They always tell the truth on TV, right? The newspapers always tell the truth."

- And in Wikipedia they write the truth.

- Well, Wikipedia is still half the trouble. In general, any information on the Internet is prepared by someone, it is visualized, with pictures, usually written in good Russian - you can also believe this. And then came growing up. I'm not saying that you can't trust anyone, but still, almost everyone in our country today understands that there can be lies, fakes, and everything related to this on the Internet.

Therefore, education in this area is necessary, you are right, but this, you know, is not just some courses, it seems to me that the general audience is growing up. Oddly enough, our children are often better versed in this respect than we are, than their parents, because they have been using all this since childhood. They speak a different language, but if you've noticed how millennials and zoomers communicate, it's a slightly different language. Although it annoys me, to be honest, but this is already the grumbling of an adult. Therefore, society will grow up, it is obvious. But we must move society towards this goal. Probably, it is also necessary to make some decisions in education. I, however, honestly, do not really even imagine what they are.

- Fundamentals of information hygiene.

— It seems to me that this is a course that is unlikely to be easy to teach. Once again, today's educated young people already have skills, but those who are more likely to fall for the bait are just older people who have not had this information hygiene that you mentioned since childhood. You just have to fight scammers. This is absolutely obvious.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, let's talk about the economy.

"Come on."

— Is there any hope that the frozen assets will be returned to Russia? Do we need them? Or can we live without these 280 billion dollars? If the West does come up with a withdrawal mechanism, how can we respond?

— I think that the chances of getting this money back are small, although they are a pity. But this is an element of confrontation, part of the hybrid war that has been unleashed against us. And I want to draw your attention to one point: what is understood in the West. Look here, because the West is not legally, officially, a party to the war with our country. The West has not declared war on Russia, and we have not declared war on the European Union or Western countries. Yes, we understand that there is a hybrid war going on, they are pumping them with weapons, money, and instructors, but officially — and this is very important — we are not in a state of war.

Now the continuation of the thought. Why does the country pay compensation and reparations in certain cases? Because something is being seized from it, confiscated, because other countries are parties to the conflict with it, are in a state of war. And the West is with us, and it talks about it all the time, it doesn't fight. Then why do they want to take it away from us? And this is the most difficult part. Because of this, they have such confusion in their brains. I want to take it away, I want to give this money to the Ukrainian government, but on the other hand, this is an explosion, this is a hacking of the legal world order. This is a rejection of the basic principles of protecting private property, which is hundreds of years old. Therefore, this task is still difficult for them, but if they want, of course, they will spit on their principles, give up everything and take it all away. We can survive without it.

As for our answers, they may be different. There are even a number of decisions on this issue, but they are still fragmented. For obvious reasons, we do not have foreign investments on our territory that we can impose our own penalties on, as for our investments there, for example. But we have a fairly large fund of obligations that we must fulfill in relation to Western investors. This set of obligations is estimated in different ways, but it can range from $ 250 to $ 300 billion. This is a completely different story, but in principle it is an asymmetric response. In this case, the fulfillment of obligations will not be received by a private investor, although we would, frankly, not really want to go down this path.

But this is still just reasoning out loud, especially since no decisions have been made there either, even regarding the income on our assets. But most likely it will happen, I think. We are preparing for this.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, you mentioned Texas, but I will make the Texas problem a little more acute from the point of view of what is happening on the border. From the Russian side, to put it bluntly. In January, an interethnic conflict led to a major fire at a well-known marketplace-the losses were quite large, and again raised a painful issue around the topic of migration: this is ethnic crime and unwillingness to follow the norms of our society. And in the current conditions, there are risks of using migrants who are here with us, and for sabotage purposes. You yourself said that the situation should not be allowed to destabilize due to conflicts between migrants and the local population. Maybe it's time to tighten the migration policy, in your opinion?

— If we talk about various kinds of criminal acts, you mentioned sabotage, in fact, unfortunately, not all acts of sabotage are committed by migrants. Some of them are committed by Russian criminals. These are just people who were bought, these are traitors. Yes, the migration problem is complicated. The American example that we have just discussed proves that there are migration problems that are much more complex than those facing our country. Or look at the experience of Europe, where everything is also extremely difficult.

In short, those who commit crimes on the territory of Russia, including migrants, are subject to strict criminal liability. There can be no doubt about that. Those who are law-abiding participants in economic relations can actually come and work. We all understand that without this source of labor resources, it is very often impossible to live. But what needs to be done — and this is probably the most important thing-is to put everything under control. And this can be done at the expense of digital services, which are now being actively implemented. And such a task has been set.

After all, what is the problem? Some people enter under a false name, and there is even such a topic as transliteration difficulties. One letter changes, and we no longer understand whether this is the same person, not the same person, whether he has a ban on entry or not. This database needs to be digitized, and then the situation will become much more manageable.

— So how do Europeans introduce biometrics now?

"Yes, that's what I mean. This includes biometrics, but it is even a broader problem statement in addition to biometrics. So that all this is in a single database, and not scattered, scattered according to different sources, because often in one place they don't know what was done in another. Such a universal database with elements of biometric information will allow you to put this under control. And of course, the practice of applying Russian administrative and criminal law should also be used to its full potential. Those who were told "goodbye" at some point should not return.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, I will touch on the military issue again, but from a slightly different angle. We all saw the " Armati "at parades, but in the end, when the SVO began, we had to remove the old tanks from conservation. Did someone really throw dust in the eyes of the leadership, talking about the success of the Russian defense industry? You are currently visiting businesses and inspecting them. In your opinion, is there enough capacity to implement the goals of the SVR? Are there any problems with human resources, because businesses work 24/7? Are there enough specialists?

"I see. Parades are parades. War is war. These are completely different things. The Armata tank is a new tank, it has not yet been fully tested. Not the cheapest tank. We have other tanks that have proven themselves brilliantly during the period of the SVO - this is the T-90M "Breakthrough", which the president recently called the best tank in the world. I would like to fully share this position. All my conversations with those who take part in the SVO, both at the training grounds and on the line of contact, prove that this is exactly the case.

Combat commanders who returned from the front line, forming a unit, asked for help to get the T-90M. This is a very good weapon. Well, other tanks, if we are talking about them, are T-80BVM and T-72B3M. Why do I call these letters with numbers? These are upgraded tanks. Yes, their project of the 1980-70-ies, but these tanks definitely show themselves not worse, but better than the Western ones, especially in the modernized version. But the most important thing is that we have recently been able to supply the Armed Forces with the maximum amount of armored vehicles. And this technique is used. These are thousands and thousands of armored vehicles.

Now about the military-industrial complex. It should be understood that the military-industrial complex operates differently during military operations and in everyday life. No one is ever engaged in the production of equipment of weapons of destruction only "to the warehouse". This is absolutely obvious. And in the period of military operations, all this takes completely different forms. As you said, working in three shifts, a huge defense order. Our production has increased from 2 to 10 or 15 times, that is, by 1000-1500 percent, in individual positions, in terms of means of destruction, I mean missiles, shells, bombs. This allows us to actively use them in combat work and achieve results.

Therefore, our military-industrial complex, in my opinion, has passed the test of its own defense and has proven itself in the best possible way. It is enough, by the way, to read Western analytics. At first, they scoffed, saying: they are pulling out something old, they don't have enough of it, they don't have enough of it, and now we will pile on all of NATO and supply them with all this: tanks, shells, radios, and UAVs. And now they are no longer laughing, they see that in a significant part of the components we have are superior to them.

A separate topic is unmanned aerial vehicles. This component was not really well developed in our country before the start of the SVO. But, to the credit of the defense industry, we must admit that over the past literally one and a half years, this gap has been overcome. And now our drones operate in all segments, starting from large vehicles and ending with barraging ammunition, that is, one-time drones that perform a separate task, destroy an object and disappear. All this is also put on stream. Therefore, I can only say that our defense industry has passed the test of a special military operation, and I can thank everyone who works in this complex. They are actually enthusiasts of their craft, real patriots.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, the Western media wrote that in 2024, Russia's federal budget spending on defense will increase. At the same time, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov insists that the country's budget cannot be called military. So, has the Russian economy switched to military tracks, have social issues not been ignored, and what is more important at the moment-military or social spending?

— In fact, I think that Anton Siluanov is right. Our budget is not military in the narrowly specialized sense of the word. For example, if you compare it with the budget of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Great Patriotic War. Just for the sake of understanding the figures and volumes, we have about 30 percent of federal budget expenditures, which are trillions of rubles — these are social expenditures: education and healthcare. Not a single social obligation is lost, money is being paid for all of them, salaries are being paid in this sector, benefits are being paid, and even individual items are growing. That's a third. The second third is simply the development of the country, it is the economy, transport, urban development, the development of various communications.

And the remaining part of the budget is somehow related to the CBO in the broad sense of the word. This is not in the narrow sense of defense spending, but in a broad sense. This is just the proof of what the Finance Minister said: this is the budget of a developing country, but, of course, with very significant spending on defense needs, this is true.

We'll wait and see what happens next. I can only say that even after the end of the active part of the special military operation, we will, of course, have to work on defense for a very long time. So that everyone understands, our stock is very strong. And no one even thought of encroaching on our interests. Plus, returning to the defense industry, I am sure that after what has been done, our military equipment will be in even greater demand on world markets than it was before. It's one thing to just show beautiful pictures, but another thing is to really fight.

"Let me continue with a series of tense and probably uncomfortable questions, but I have to ask. After the death of Alexey Navalny (added to the list of terrorists and extremists-approx. TASS) in the colony, many people in different regions of the country took flowers to monuments to victims of political repression. In Moscow, law enforcement officers acted tactfully, let's call it that. In St. Petersburg, people were taken in packs to paddy wagons; in Salekhard, a man who had brought flowers to the monument separately was brought to the police station, a gun was held to his head and they demanded to explain why he had brought flowers. Navalny's mother can't get the body. Yesterday, she appealed to the president, but did not receive a response, they explain with investigative actions. But it turns out that this raises only additional questions about the causes of his death and additional seething among Navalny's supporters. I have a question: why do the authorities, so it turns out, continue to fight against Navalny even after his death, and why do people get 15 days for silently laying flowers, not for picketing monuments, which, in fact, are not even monuments to Navalny, they are monuments to victims of political repression?

— As for what is being done in the regions, I will say frankly, I am not ready to comment on it. There are always some costs involved. If we are talking about laying flowers, then, probably, there is no corpus delicti or even an administrative offense. No one is fighting with it now, this is also understandable, because the person is no longer there. I will not develop this idea further, because, as we usually say, it is either good or nothing about the departed. I can't say anything good about him, and I won't say anything bad about him. If there are supporters, well, we must take this into account, but do not exaggerate this factor. Now the country lives differently.

I would rather say something else: how did they react to this not in our country, but abroad? Here is the same Borrel agreed to the fact that it is necessary to call the sanctions packages by his name. This all looks surprising, since they don't even have any data yet on what happened. Nevertheless, all this has already turned into a political program, it has all turned into propaganda. Although the same Borrel… It's not for him to talk about it. If I were in his place, I would prepare for the earth in general, taking into account his venerable age, and somewhere at the Madrid Institute of Technology, Polytechnic Institute, which I think he graduated from, I would already agree on scholarships in his name, and I would not think about calling some sanctions lists by the name of a stranger to him a person.

In general, there are always such incidents, they are tragic, of course, give rise to very different emotions. While you're on the subject, look at the smiling, happy face of Navalny's widow. It feels like she's been waiting for this event all these years to turn her political life around. And she's already said that. But it's all sad, I think, quite sad.

- Second question. Coincidentally, there were two such high-profile deaths at once. Former Russian military defector pilot . Earlier, the Russian military threatened Kuzminov with death. Well, now, respectively, there are comments from Russia and the West. Here all agree in one version that this is retribution. But, actually, the main question is: whose retribution is this and how do you comment on this whole situation?

"Very briefly. Dog — dog death.

"It doesn't matter from whose hands?"

— I've said it all.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, you recently spoke very harshly about relocants, but you did not comment in any way...

"Not all of them. If you are quoting my well-known post on Telegram, it did not apply to all relocants.

— Yes, who speak out about Russia. But you did not comment in any way, for example, on the same" naked party " of Nastya Ivleeva, although even the president in his speeches made comments to freaks showing their genitals. Do you think that people's love for the participants of this party and the trust of concert venues will return? Did they apologize enough?

— Can I not talk about this party?" It was already so much on edge. This is such a mess compared to what is happening in the country, in the world. Just a pity for our time with you.

But I will comment on something else, in relation to those who conduct a campaign from abroad. So you called them relocants. Relocants, the term beautiful, are just displaced people, there are different people among them. Look, those people who just went there, afraid of something, not fully feeling what is happening, for some reason of their own, and just sit there, sit out — well, God be with them, let them sit, there are no legal claims against them at the moment and there can't be any it can. Moral-well, this is already a moral category, this is a separate story.

But among them there are a small part of people, well-known people who, having moved there, either after the start of the SVO, or even before the SVO, conduct an aggressive anti-Russian campaign. And not just an anti-Russian campaign — those who directly wish the death of our servicemen, participate in support programs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who want the defeat of Russia and its division into parts. These people, these relocants — they're scoundrels. They have committed a criminal offence and should be held criminally liable. In any case, as I wrote, I will repeat once again, we will have a reason to spit on their graves in some situation.

As for what you asked, let me not even comment on it.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, recently very tough changes are taking place in the legislation, almost every week such news reaches us: deputies adopt various laws that tighten or initiate them, including the seizure of property from those who criticize the SVO, the recent ban on advertising on the pages of those who are recognized as foreign agents, cases of illegal immigration, etc. confessions of writers as extremists, criminal cases against directors and screenwriters who are in jail, and nothing happens. This is also an interesting phenomenon that occurs in society in response to this. Society begins to inform on its neighbors or colleagues, and so on.

— Have you already informed on someone?

- no. I'm probably an antagonist and a liberal in this company, but there was already such a witch hunt, you know the story perfectly well, and it didn't bring anything good. Do you think that this phenomenon is dangerous and such a reaction of the people is dangerous to tighten the nuts?

"Look, this is a continuation of what we just talked about. After all, even those who are accused of extremist criminal offenses are not accused for their system of values. But what does this have to do with any Akunin (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent, included in the list of terrorists and extremists-approx. TASS), his system of values and the words he uttered: "I understand everything and we need to bomb Russian cities"? These are completely different things. A person can leave, a person can hate the authorities. You won't be forcibly nice. This is understandable and understandable. But what, in my opinion, you can never do is to wish defeat to your Fatherland, even if you are disappointed with something, and death to your soldiers and military personnel. This is both a terrible sin and a criminal offense under current laws. And such people should be prosecuted, and very tough laws should be adopted on this topic, some of them have been adopted, and property should be confiscated.

A person sits abroad and says: "Yes, yes, bomb Russian cities", and on the other hand, his books are sold or his scripts are bought. It doesn't have to be this way. Let's get back to real ground. It is as if during the Great Patriotic War we had some royalties going to Berlin from individual publications of our authors.

About snitching. You see, this problem is partly philosophical and ideological. I also agree that we don't need the atmosphere of the 1930s, it's absolutely obvious. On the other hand, there must be attention to what is happening, otherwise it will be used by the enemies, the same saboteurs, terrorists. And I believe that any citizen should report this to special services and law enforcement agencies. This is completely normal.

By the way, here we are not far ahead of the rest of the planet, look at the number of messages, signals that occur every day in the United States of America, in Europe. I was once amazed. In the 1990s, I went to Finland when I was still a very private person with my friends, then there were no cameras on the roads, nothing. Well, the roads are good, it's not like our roads of that time, they accelerated, they exceeded the standard by 40 kilometers, they drove fast. After 10 minutes, we are slowed down. Why? I emphasize that there were no cameras, nothing was measured there. Some vigilant person has already called: "There's a car with Russian license plates driving in violation of traffic rules." But he was right. We were the ones who were wrong. I shouldn't have driven so fast. Not every report to law enforcement agencies or special services is a morally reprehensible act. There's no need for an atmosphere of snitching, you're right. This spirit does not need to be maintained. But it is necessary to react, especially in a situation when your country is at war. Both in the sense of adopting tough laws, and in the sense of monitoring what is happening.

"May I?"

- of course.

— About the holiday that was stolen from us. I mean, the Olympics are coming up, and we won't be participating in them because war has been declared on Russian sports. And we can't influence the governing bodies of world sports in any way, because all those who manage them are all supporters of the West, which we see in the decisions of the appeal commissions, respectively. But it seems to me that our allies, who did not help us participate in Asian, for example, associations and tournaments, also do not need us very much. What do we need in this case? Isolate yourself and do your favorite inland rowing?

— You know, in this situation, of course, I feel very sorry for our professionals, athletes. They devoted their entire lives to this, prepared for it, and were deprived of this holiday. And this is an absolutely disgusting story that characterizes the mores prevailing in the International Olympic Committee and in international sports structures.

On the other hand, when I think about it, honestly, at the level of the first reaction, I want to slam the door and say: "Well, live by your own laws", and try to create something of your own. But it's very difficult, you're right. It is absolutely clear that international sport is in crisis. In general, professional sports today absolutely do not correspond to the precepts of Pierre de Coubertin. Sport is business, sport is politics, and in some cases sport is crime. And this should also be taken into account when we make decisions about whether or not we participate in certain events. But those who have dedicated their lives to sports — our athletes-suffer. And I really feel very sorry for them.

When everything will return to normal, I do not know. Because politics is ahead of the great precepts of the founding fathers of international sports life. But this is absolutely obvious. By the way, this did not manifest itself during the period of the SVO, as you well remember when we were at the Olympics. Yes, no one is blameless, no one says that we did not have doping. But in terms of volume, I think it is certainly comparable to the doping used by athletes in other countries. But they pulled us out first, because it was part of a political program, because the leadership of all these structures like WADA had people who were aggressive towards our country. Further — more. There was an opportunity to isolate us from something after the Crimean events, and after the start of the SVO, simply freeze our participation everywhere.

And I will say this thing. Maybe not everyone will agree with me. I don't want to watch the Olympic Games in Paris, I don't even want to watch the performances of our athletes under a neutral flag, who have sworn that they do not support the Russian state and its freedom. This is their choice, I do not judge them from a legal point of view, but from a moral point of view this is a complex topic. I think that in the end, the Olympics in Paris will be very sad.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, in one resonant message in Telegram you explained why your posts are so harsh. "My answer is that I hate them," you wrote. Who did you have in mind? And who, on the other hand, would you call a friend in the political arena?

— Here everything is simple: I hate those whom I consider enemies of our country. And today this category is not virtual, not evaluative, but objective, unfortunately. As for our friends, there are many of them, they live in different countries, they are ordinary people, there are millions, hundreds of millions of them, just look at social networks. These are the leaders of major countries that are friendly to Russia. Let's just say that among our friends, conditionally, we can include everyone who does not belong to the political class of the Anglo-Saxon world. This is a very large number of countries, their leaders, not to mention ordinary people. So here everything is simple.

- Dmitry Anatolyevich, I suggest that we finish on the satirical and cinematic topic. I wanted to know if you've seen the American satirical film Don't Look Up. It has been out for a long time, but it raises the topic of the destruction of humanity and a very important topic, how people manage to massively reject the truth, which, it would seem, is obvious. First of all, if you watched it, did you like the movie and don't you think that it is mega-relevant at the present time?

— I'll start with the last one. Unfortunately, another film, Oppenheimer, is now mega — relevant. The clock is ticking. As for the movie "Don't Look Up", I actually watched it. The film is witty, ironic, showing the mores of the elite, their mores. Previously, there was such a category: "Their morals". There are memorable images, for example, the image of the president, played, if I'm not mistaken, by Meryl Streep, Missis President, who is such a very interesting and quite cynical girl. I don't know who to compare her to in the modern panopticon, but I think she reminds me in part of the frenetic gynecologist Ursula von der Leyen in the degree of deceit and desire to fool the brains of a huge number of people. 

Thank you Mr. Medvedev for a very entertaining conversation. You don’t see any mending of relations between Russia and the NATO Bloc in the near or medium term, that it will depend on the rise of a new set of people. Your description of the Outlaw US Empire’s Deep State was rather unique, IMO. Yes, there seem to be several knife edges floating about loosely needing to be controlled. Your patriotic stance was to be expected. And you still retain your wit and some humility. Now to take a break and look it over again later.

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