Putin the Submariner in Murmansk

Not long ago I said "we will put the squeeze on them", there is reason to believe that we will finish it off.

Vladimir Putin spoke with the crew members of the nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk

President Putin had a very full day n Murmansk. This event almost snuck by as the transcript wasn’t posted when I first visited the page. The picture caption says it all. Putin uses the occasion to give a talk about Russian defense and the SMO in his dialogue in answer to questions posed by the crew. The video is about 40 minutes, so the transcript isn’t too long, and the chat reads fast":

Vladimir Putin: Dear comrades, good evening!

I am glad to welcome you all. It's nice to once again visit such a rocket carrier as yours, in principle, a rocket carrier. I've never been to one like yours before. I was on other submarines, as you probably know, and I took part in exercises. But as far as your ship is concerned, it's a special thing–-it's the newest ship.

Look, we laid it down in 2015, launched it in 2023, and in 2024 it was commissioned into the Armed Forces and Navy. For such complex products, let's just say that this is a very good time frame, and everything is at the most modern level.

Today, another such boat, also seen, was launched. It is basically the same, but there are also "Zircons", which is especially nice. Because "Zircons" to a certain extent can already be attributed to weapons of strategic importance. How much range does the Zircon have? 1200, right?

Remark: There are two options, and there are a little more.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I understand. But still, given the power of this weapon, accuracy and speed of movement to the target, of course, it can be attributed to such systems that perform strategic tasks.

The role of the Navy is generally known. Russia has been a powerful maritime power for centuries, and we will do everything to maintain this status, build new surface and submarine ships, and improve their performance. They must meet the requirements of today and must, of course, be combat-ready and effective in the short–term–-in the full sense of the word—historical perspective, because these weapons, which should serve the country for many decades, form the basis of our strategic security.

We will do everything for this, just as we will do everything to train specialists like you. These are individual people, sorry for the expression. This requires a special character, readiness to perform any tasks to ensure the country's security. That's what you are, I have no doubt about it.

The traditions of the Navy have been laid down in our country for a long time, and they are being observed. And the brotherhood of naval officers, especially submariners, has a special quality, a special character.

In principle, I would like to congratulate you on joining the service at such a facility-–the most modern, most equipped, and capable of performing a wide variety of tasks. You know this better than anyone, but this is a very, very important question. Work on surface targets, underwater targets, and stationary ground targets. In general, it is probably difficult to list or name such tasks that missile carriers and ships of this kind cannot perform-–everyone can. And we will continue to improve all this. We have just spoken to the commander and your commanders. Everything must meet the requirements of today and tomorrow. We need to look to the future.

I'm glad to see you. I congratulate you on being here. And I congratulate you, as I just said at the top, I congratulate all the military seamen on today's event–-on the launch of a new submarine, this is already a class, "Perm".

If there is anything you would like to ask, I will be happy to answer any of your questions. You are welcome.

Alexey Moiseyev [Commander-in-Chief of the Navy]: Comrade Supreme Commander, allow me to give the floor to the commander.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course.

Alexander Gladkov: I would like to say a little about our exhibition, so to speak: four submarines, all called "Arkhangelsk".

The first battleship "Arkhangelsk "on reparations, it was transferred to the Soviet Navy in 1944 and from 1944 to 1949 served under the name "Arkhangelsk".

The next ship with the name "Arkhangelsk" was K-525. This is the lead submarine of Project 949, which until 1996 served, respectively, in our Navy. After that, the name " Arkhangelsk "passed to the heavy nuclear-powered strategic missile cruiser TK-17"Arkhangelsk". You know him. And, accordingly, we became the fourth--the ship of the 885 project "Yasen".

Igor Lakomkin: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Commander of the survivability division, Lieutenant Commander Lakomkin. The crew is proud to belong to the glorious Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Currently, the crew is undergoing combat training and preparing to perform important tasks at sea. Everything is going according to plan, and I am confident that the crew and our cruiser will be able to perform the assigned tasks at the appointed time.

The cruiser of this generation is our pride due to the fact that not many countries in the world are able to create such a serious and formidable weapon.

Please tell me what are the future prospects and plans for the development of the Navy of our country?

Vladimir Putin: Don't worry, I have already said that we believe that the Navy is one of the main guarantees of state security and strategic stability in the world as a whole, because we have a certain strategic balance with the United States, and we will treat this very carefully and do everything in a timely manner.

Of course, there have always been many questions and problems at all times. Russia is like a land power, a huge territory, but it is no coincidence that since the time of Peter I, the traditions of shipbuilding and the Navy have been laid down. In principle, they were there before, but Peter just put it on a completely new base, on a completely new basis. And we will do everything possible not only to preserve this component of the Russian Armed Forces, but also to strengthen it.

Just now we witnessed the launch of the fifth cruiser Yasen-M. It is planned to build five more such ships, plus three more Borey-A ships. But all our plans for building the Armed Forces and Navy are not limited to this. There are plans to build surface ships and strategic missile carriers.

I won't go into details now. We have different views, different approaches about what and how we need to do here. But all this, all these disputes between scientists, designers, the Armed Forces, between various enterprises–-this is all a positive process, which is aimed at choosing the best, optimal options for the development of the fleet. So we will do it.

I won't go into the details right now, although I will be immersed in these details. The commander knows that we don't meet so often, we should do it more often, but we still meet regularly, all these disputes are going on, but the decisions are also final. We are not just engaged in lapping up positions, but in the course of these discussions, decisions are made on the development of the fleet. They are long-term, for the future, for decades to come–-until 2050 and beyond.

Now, on my instructions, a strategy for the development of the Naval Forces, the Navy and a program for the construction of surface and submarine ships until 2050 are being prepared, so we will work together with you.

I speak without irony. Why? Because how the operation goes–-in this case, boats—also depends on making decisions on future development plans. So I very much hope that when you serve here, if you notice something, think about something, please, we will only be happy to hear your practical comments.

Igor Lakomkin: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Alexander Frolov: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief!

Commander of the combat communications unit, Captain of the third rank Frolov.

The tasks that we submariners perform are important for the security of the state. But we also understand that the main task now, as for all of us, the country as a whole, is to achieve the goals of a special military operation.

Could you give your assessment of current events and the progress of the special military operation?

Vladimir Putin: Of course.

I'll tell you briefly: we are gradually, not as quickly as some would like, but nevertheless, persistently and confidently moving towards achieving all the goals stated at the beginning of the operation. But I'd like to start somewhere else.

I would like to say that we were not the authors and initiators of the outbreak of hostilities. They began after the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014, which was supported by Western countries. And after that, fighting actually began in the south-east of Ukraine.

We have been trying for eight years to resolve these issues and problems by peaceful means. We were forced to protect Crimea and the Crimean residents of Sevastopol, and for a very long time and persistently sought to resolve issues related to the Donbass and Luhansk by peaceful means.

As it turned out later, everyone knows this very well now, both the Ukrainian authorities and Western curators, they, in fact, led us by the nose, unfortunately. Former leaders who then led some of the leading Western countries, in particular, former French President Hollande and Mrs. Merkel, the former German Chancellor, directly stated, publicly said without hesitation that they needed these Minsk agreements only in order to rearm the Ukrainian regime and prepare for military operations with us. But for eight years, people who lived in the territory of Donbass, Luhansk and Donetsk were simply subjected to genocide in the truest sense of the word. The Western curators of the Ukrainian regime preferred not to notice this. This forced us to make an attempt to end the war that was started in 2014 with already armed means. We didn't start it.

Even, by the way, when the armed conflict entered such a hot phase in 2022, we still offered to resolve all issues peacefully. Moreover, I have already said this many times, and we reached an agreement with Ukraine when the talks were held in Istanbul. By the way, we have also agreed on issues that are very often asked and interpreted as impossible to resolve-–denasification and demilitarization. We have agreed on these issues as well, in fact. Everything was spelled out there–-in the draft of this document. An excerpt from this document was initialed by the head of the negotiation group on the part of Ukraine. Initialed, signed, so everything was fine.

Then–-it is also known-their curators came from Europe, in particular, from the UK, former Prime Minister Mr. Johnson, convinced the Ukrainian leadership that it was necessary to continue the armed struggle to the last, in fact, Ukrainian, in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

So he probably forgot that there are such collectives as yours, such means as your submarine. Apparently, he has forgotten or they do not really understand what the Russian people are, what our people have in their hearts and souls when it comes to the security of the Fatherland.

What is happening today, in principle, is also clear. Along the entire line of contact, our troops have a strategic initiative. I just recently said "we will finish them off", there are reasons to believe that we will finish them off. I only think that the Ukrainian people should realize what is happening.

The fact that our Armed Forces are gaining momentum, acting more and more effectively. A direct participant in the hostilities, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, can also tell about this.

He commands the 155th Marine Brigade, Pacific Fleet. The brigade is one of the best, in my opinion, in the Armed Forces. According to the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, what Major General Gudkov achieved should be replicated to other units of the Armed Forces and, above all, of course, units of the Marine Corps, which generally fights well. Great, I can tell. You see, without any exaggeration, it refers to the elite of the Armed Forces in the same way as paratroopers, as well as special forces.

Although I should note that today, just before coming here, I listened to the regular report of the Chief of the General Staff, and other units of the Armed Forces have gained very good momentum.

As for the Marines, as I said, they fight very well. And since the Minister and the Chief of the General Staff believe that your experience should be replicated to other units, I have decided to transfer you to another position and increase the level of your responsibility. You are appointed Deputy Commander of the Naval Forces of the Russian Federation.

Mikhail Gudkov: Yes, Comrade Supreme Commander.

Vladimir Putin: Please sit down.

Your area of responsibility will include commanding the entire Marine Corps of the Navy and all missile and artillery coastal troops.

The task is simple, although large-scale: despite the fact that all Marines show themselves in the best possible way, but all these units need to be brought to the level of combat readiness and efficiency to which you brought the 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet.

In addition, the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense has approved a program for reorganizing the Marine Corps, these units, and we will gradually create marine divisions from brigades. This year two divisions, including the 155th Brigade, next year two more divisions and in a year we will create another division.

This is a lot of work, which will be primarily related to the organization of combat training, taking into account your experience in combat operations during the command and leadership of the 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet. We need to think about organizational changes, as brigades are being transformed into divisions. We need to think about weapons, communications, and so on and so forth. That is, in principle, a lot of work.

I'll tell you a little later what you need to do in the next few days. The commander supported this proposal, so I hope that everything will work out for you, and I don't even doubt it. I wish you the best of luck.

As for the situation on the line of contact. Once again, I would like to emphasize that the entire strategic initiative on the front line is entirely in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces.

The Luhansk People's Republic is 99 percent liberated, its territory, and Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporozhye – over 70 percent. Our troops, our guys are moving forward and liberating one territory after another, one settlement after another every day.

Igor Domnin: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Foreman of the second article Domnin. Today, the world's attention is focused on the negotiations between Russia and the United States. Suddenly, we started to have a dialogue and get closer to our main rival. If possible, I would like to know firsthand the progress of the negotiations and, possibly, their results.

Vladimir Putin: You don't pay attention to it, just do your duty, do your duty. (Laughter.)

In general, this is a joke. I understand that everyone in the world and in our country, all people are watching this closely. In this regard, I would like to say first that, in my opinion, the newly elected President of the United States sincerely wants to end this conflict for a number of reasons – I won't even list them now, there are many of them. But, in my opinion, this is a sincere desire.

It is clear that the conflict to which I have referred and to which I have just given a brief description of what has happened in the recent past is still complex and requires careful discussion and approach.

We are in favor of resolving all these issues by peaceful means, and I have just said that we have taken one, two, and three steps from the very beginning.

Therefore, we are in favor of resolving these issues by peaceful means, but while eliminating the root causes that led to the current situation. We need, of course, to ensure Russia's long-term historical security. Any step aimed at solving this problem will be welcome, and we will work with any partners who are willing to do so. This is not only the United States, but also the People's Republic of China, India, Brazil, South Africa, all the BRICS countries and many others, for example, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, with which we have signed an agreement, there is article four, and much has been said about how and what we should do and support each other. We are also working with this country in the military-technical and military spheres.

By the way, we are also ready to work with Europe, but they just behave inconsistently, constantly trying to lead us by the nose. But never mind, we're already used to it. I hope that we will not make any mistakes based on excessive trust in our so-called partners.

But in general, there is a problem that they seem to talk about, but only in passing, and I myself also talk about it. What is it? It is that the so–called Nazis, as they are called in Ukraine itself, nationalists—people of neo-Nazi views—have a very large influence in the country, in Ukraine, from the very beginning after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Curiously, very few people remember this either now.

Back in 2017, in the same United States Congress, an amendment was made to a law that prohibited funding, supporting and having any relations with such a unit as Azov, and directly an American lawmaker called this paramilitary organization terrorist and anti-Semitic.

Moreover, although the Senate did not support it at that time, but a year later, in my opinion, two years later, the initiators of this law, and among them was the oldest member of the US Congress, still supported this law, and it was passed by Congress. The US Congress called this organization terrorist, anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi.

But nothing has changed since then. They were just like that, and they still are. What is there, in fact, something has changed? No. What happened? And in 2022, the State Department, with reference to the fact that this formation, "Azov", entered the armed forces of Ukraine, decided that–apparently, the law there was built accordingly–-it is possible to assist them. Because it was integrated into the armed forces of Ukraine, nothing, in fact, has changed. Their views, their actions are still the same as they were in the beginning.

And now even more than that, now they are planning to strengthen these units, including Azov ,and create divisions from them, too. This means that such people acquire more weapons, more supporters, and put others under the gun, forcing their views on them.

What does this lead to? This leads to the fact that the civil authorities, they are now actually in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine are not legal. Elections were not held for the president there, and the constitution is designed so that everyone is appointed by the president, including regional authorities, governors are appointed, and so on. If he is illegitimate, then so is everyone else.

So, in the conditions of this de facto illegitimacy, neo-Nazi formations receive additional weapons and recruit new people to their ranks. What does this lead to, or can it lead to? That the actual power is in their hands. And this means, in turn, that it is not clear with whom to sign what documents, and it is not clear what power they have, because tomorrow other leaders will come, who will go through the elections and say: "Who signed there-we don't know, goodbye."

It's not even that, but the fact is that these neo-Nazi formations-–such as "Azov", and there are others there--they are actually beginning to lead the country. And the question arises: what about how to negotiate with them?

However, in such cases, international practice follows a well-known path within the framework of United Nations peacekeeping activities, what is called external management, temporary administration, has already been established several times. This was the case in East Timor, in my opinion, in 1999, this was the case in some parts of the former Yugoslavia, this was the case in New Guinea. In general, this practice exists.

And in principle, of course, it would be possible to discuss the possibility of introducing a temporary administration in Ukraine under the auspices of the United Nations, even with European countries, of course, with our partners and friends. And for what purpose? In order to hold democratic elections, in order to bring to power a government that is capable and enjoys the confidence of the people, and then start negotiations with them on a peace treaty, sign legitimate documents that will be recognized worldwide and will be reliable and stable.

This is just one of the options, I'm not saying that others don't exist. No, they exist. Now there is simply no way to put everything on the shelves, and it may even be impossible to put everything on the shelves, because the situation is changing quickly, but this is one of the options. There is such a practice in the work of the United Nations, and I have already mentioned some examples.

But in general, we welcome the resolution of any conflict, including this one, by peaceful means. Not at our expense.

Something else? Don't be shy.

Alexander Belyaev: We, the crew, spend most of our time at sea away from our families. While we are at sea, our families are waiting for us, living in cities that are far removed from the regional center, from large cities.

I would like to thank you for taking care of the welfare of our families and ask you to tell us what is planned for the development of infrastructure in closed cities.

Vladimir Putin: We discussed it today, the commander was present and saw it.

You know, as a whole, thank God, the economy and finances of the state are, to put it mildly, in a satisfactory state and everything is stable–-both in the sphere of public finances and in the sphere of the economy as a whole.

But there is always not enough money. There is no such thing, I do not remember in all the years of my work that someone who manages finance and economics said that "everyone, we don't know where to put the money"-–this does not happen. However, when oil prices were high and so on, we had funds that we set aside in reserves, they were called differently–-well, it doesn't matter.

But in general, even when we were saving for reserves, they were still not enough. Let me explain: if you do not save money in reserves, then there will be macroeconomic problems, including inflation. All the same, we need to postpone something, and from what is left, build programs related to the expenditure part of the budget.

So, and now the same situation. Everything is stable and normal here. 4.1 percent growth of the country's economy, Russia is the fourth country in the world in terms of economy size, according to purchasing power parity. In the first place is China, then the United States, then India, then Russia. And all the others, including Japan, Germany, and so on, are all lower.

I'm not even talking about the UK, they all jump on us, they behave aggressively, but their economy is, in my opinion, in the ninth or tenth place in the world. Hence the armed forces, how many are there, 170 or 180 thousand [people]? This is all the armed forces of Great Britain.

But what was I talking about just now? That something is always missing. Here is the commander [of the Navy] sitting today, also attended the meeting, took part in it. As for the development of military camps, last year, in my opinion, we allocated more than 39 billion rubles for these purposes, for the development, for putting these towns in order over two or three years.

A. Moiseev: 2024, 2025, 2026.

Vladimir Putin: But I also listened to the commander today, because the commander reported on the prospects for the development of these ZATS, taking into account the increase in the number of Armed Forces here and the size of the fleet, the increase in land forces, and so on.

That is why I gave instructions to the Government and the Ministry of Finance today, and they, of course, accepted them for execution – we will allocate the same amount of funds for the coming years, at least 10 billion rubles each.

I hope that what has already been done is noticeable. This is money for kindergartens, schools, for putting the housing and communal services system in order, for streets, courtyards, yard space, and so on. I hope you're watching this.

A. Moiseev: Undoubtedly so.

Vladimir Putin: Yes?

Alexey Moiseyev: Yes, I assure you that it is true.

Vladimir Putin: But they [the sailors] don't say anything. (Laughter.)

A. Moiseev: It's simple and modest.

Vladimir Putin: It's clear. So here's what we'll do. This program exists, and money will be allocated.

Alexey Moiseyev: Comrade Supreme Commander, allow me to thank you. thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. [My Emphasis]

What a surprise peace solution to the problem of Nazis. A big trial balloon. The Russian Navy’s in great shape. I hope no coffee was spilled over that surprise since most will be reading this is the morning. Good Night.

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