Putin Visits Kursk Region

Talks with local government and people from volunteer organizations.

Meeting with volunteer organization representatives.

There’re many news items to report on today. The first is what the Kremlin provided about Putin’s excursion to Kursk Region yesterday where he talked with the current temporarily appointed governor, representatives of the regions municipal governments and people representing the many volunteer organizations that came to Kursk to help during the invasion and its aftermath. What this report will cover is Putin’s meeting with the Acting Governor of the Kursk Region Alexander Khinshtein and Putin’s meeting with representatives of volunteer organizations. Khinshtein was appointed acting governor when Alexei Smirnov was fired for corruption—monies for constructing defensive works were stolen and the works never completed which allowed invading Ukrainian troops to make much greater inroads and increased and prolonged the suffering of Kursk region residents. After this report will come a report on Lavrov’s visit to Armenia and his press conference. And then a short report on the trade deal that was finalized between China and the ASEAN association. Off to Kursk:

Alexander : If I may, I would like to raise a few questions that I think are very important for the residents of the regions and that people are raising before me.

You have made an unprecedented decision to pay 65 thousand rubles a month to those who previously lost their property, and those who are in a very difficult situation today. Starting from February of this year, you decided to allow people to receive these support funds.

When the meeting with the Russian Government was held, you said that people will receive this money until the Kursk region is completely liberated from the enemy. And thank God, this historic moment, without exaggeration, came on April 26. But I would ask you, Mr President, to consider continuing these payments, at least until people can get the opportunity to return to their homes.

I report to you that the territory is being actively cleared of mines, and a group of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the Bars–Kursk [volunteer brigade] has been deployed. Every day, a huge number, several dozen explosive objects are cleared. But until then, we can't make it safe for people to return home.

I would ask for the opportunity to keep this support measure–-65 thousand rubles–-at least for the current period.

Vladimir Putin: I agree. This should be done until people can return to their homes. And the number of mine clearance units will certainly need to be increased in the departments that are engaged in this work, so that people can return to their homes as quickly as possible. I agree with that.

Alexander Khinshtein: Thank you. I can say that this is really very, very important for people. And I repeat, this measure of support is unprecedented, it has no analogues. However, what happened, sometimes happens on our land, too.

Vladimir Putin: All right, Alexander Yevseyevich. What else?

Alexander Khinshtein: One more question, Mr President.

Today, those whose homes were damaged as a result of shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, terrorist actions, receive funds for repairs, if these homes are subject to restoration. But, unfortunately, we have a category of houses that were not directly affected by the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but which people left during their resettlement, left, and then, in the winter, they came, of course, into disrepair: they were thawed, they became objects of some other encroachments, and living in these houses became impossible.

I would like to ask you to consider the possibility that, as well as for the homes affected by the criminal actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, we could use the federal budget to pay for support measures in the form of money for the repair of uninhabitable premises. Today, this rate is set at 9 thousand rubles per square meter.

Vladimir Putin: That's the way to do it. I also agree with this proposal, because people are not to blame for the fact that their housing has fallen into disrepair, and, of course, they need to be supported. I agree.

Alexander Khinshtein: Thank you, Mr President.

And the third question. The events that took place on the Kursk land, of course, are of great historical significance. And it is extremely important for us to preserve the memory of what happened here, of the heroism of our defenders, of the heroism of the inhabitants of the region. I would like to ask for your support in creating a federal museum dedicated to the events in the Kursk Region in 2024-2025, together with the Russian Military History Society and the Russian Historical Society. I would consider it expedient to create such a museum in Kursk with a branch in the city of Sudzha.

Vladimir Putin: We will make a good offer.

I know you have a lot of other questions, too. Get ready and get in my car. We'll talk on the way."

Alexander Khinshtein: Thank you, Mr President. [My Emphasis]

IMO, those weren’t difficult choices to make and their announcement at the next two meetings will be very welcome. Now the meeting with the volunteer organization reps, which as the header photo shows consist mostly of young adults:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon! I have long wanted to stop by to talk about your work, thank you, find out more about how it is organized, and ask the natural question in such cases: what additional work needs to be done to help you, to support you. What regions are you from?

Remark: Mr President, not only the Kursk Region is represented here, but also Kaluga, the Luhansk People's Republic, Ryazan, Moscow, and Donetsk themselves. Here are all the guys who have not been left out directly since the beginning of August, each of them joined the work in their own way. Some delivered humanitarian aid, some assisted in evacuations, and some provided first aid training, especially in the areas that were shelled. And, in fact, here today are some guys who really worked. I would suggest starting with Denis. This is our All-Russian Student Rescue Corps. The guy himself is from Kursk.

Dmitry Soldatov: Hello, my name is Denis Soldatov. At the moment, I am the chief of the operational staff of the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps. Our operational headquarters started operating on August 7, 2024. The main tasks are to accept applications that internally displaced persons send to us. We process them and deliver targeted assistance. Districts also contact us, they take hygiene and food packages, and military units, they are also shipped to them, they take them with them. During all this time, we have delivered 600 targeted applications, we pass them directly to your hands and deliver them to your apartment.

Recently, we started traveling together with the People's Front to the border areas to close heat circuits, carry out emergency recovery work and clean up the yard area. Since August, we have also cooperated with the emergency rescue service of the Kursk region, went to landscape fires, road accidents, and door opening. Over the entire time, more than 50 trips were made together with them. We work in this mode. Every day we do the work that has been done since August.

We also receive volunteers from different regions. For all this time, there were 70 regions from which people came to visit us. This is a humanitarian mission, it is 600 people. Guys come here for two weeks, but there are some who stay here for a month or more. The most memorable thing is the guys from Yekaterinburg, they came here in early August, left only at the end of November, that is, they were not deterred by the fact that Yekaterinburg is not so close to the Kursk region, and they came here, far from home. For me, these are heroes who understood that their help was needed here and now. That's why I remember it.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: How many people, Denis, are currently under your patronage?

Dmitry Soldatov: Every day we employ 10 people in our staff, but if we need a certain group, if we need to go somewhere, we collect more.

Vladimir Putin: And how many people are under your patronage? How many homes do you serve, I do not know, people?

Dmitry Soldatov: Seven targeted applications are delivered daily, sometimes up to 16. We have a month divided into 3 parts, as we realized for ourselves. At the beginning of the month there are few applications, in the middle there are already more, just up to 16, and at the end of the month there are also few. These are mostly the same internally displaced persons who have been there since August, as well as families with disabilities and large families who can't go to the pick-up point themselves and get them, they need to be taken. That's why we're working hard.

Vladimir Putin: Take me on what?

D. Soldatov: We deliver by transport, addressable delivery.

Vladimir Putin: What kind of transport, whose one?

Dmitry Soldatov: From the Popular Front.

Alexander Kasaurov: Hello, Mr President. I am from the Luhansk People's Republic, a demobilized student myself, and I once told you about our operation in Avdiivka, and we also worked there. Now I am the head of the humanitarian mission in principle of our entire "Popular Front Youth Team". We have been working around the clock for a long time on the territory of new regions. These are Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson. We work there all the time. Since August, we came here from our forum "Rubezh", the first shift. They started their work initially on evacuation. Unfortunately, we lost two of our guys here. Evacuated together with the center "Patriot", for this they are very grateful, they took out our wounded fighter Fedya Gerashchenko.

Since then, we have been working, several outlets have been organized, we work in a warehouse, we also work around the clock, we close work in the hospital. And now, once again, we have a priority area–-work in the border area. We go right behind the military, in the course of mine clearance of cities. We go there, provide assistance, close the heat circuit to save at least part of what is left of the apartments, clean up the surrounding territory, sort out the rubble and try to preserve and restore the monuments that we have and that, unfortunately, were damaged by the armed forces of Ukraine.

We are facing one problem. Where we close the heat circuit, unfortunately, the Ukrainian troops start hitting it again, because, apparently, they see that we are working there. We just did it, literally 2-3 days pass, and a drone arrives there. We have already done this with several houses in Bolshesoldatsky district. And even on monuments, especially in the Belovsky district. It would seem that, yes, there is nothing more to destroy, but after our arrival, after we helped there, they struck again. It's not clear to us, but it's okay, we'll work, it won't stop us.

Vladimir Putin: It is clear, it is clear with whom we are fighting. If they directly destroy monuments from the Second World War, it's understandable. This gives us every reason to say that these are people with the ideology of neo-Nazism. What else is there? And how else to define it? All right. And even in the idiot contest, they would have taken second place. Why? Because they're idiots. By doing what they do, they show who they are.

Pavel Polyansky: Hello, Mr President. My name is Pavel Polyansky, I am a native of the city of Kursk, a local resident. I am a doctor-surgeon by profession. The Popular Front invited me to this meeting because I have worked with them for a long time.

My job was as follows. At the beginning of the invasion, a group of enthusiastic volunteers and I organized and restored the work of stabilization points for receiving the wounded to normal. When did all these events in the Kursk region begin…

Vladimir Putin: A stabilisation point?

P. Polyansky: For the wounded.

Vladimir Putin: Where were they?"

P. Polyansky: They were organized from 20 to 40 kilometers from the contact line, that is, in close proximity. The wounded were taken from the battlefield to the hospital, where they were treated, stabilized (actually, the name "stabilization point") so that they could be taken to a medical institution, to a hospital. So far, the Ministry of Defense has not fully deployed its facilities at the beginning of all this, a lot of people have come here, a lot of doctors, for which they have a big bow–-doctors, nurses, just non-doctors who have partially assumed some functions of doctors, a huge number.

These points appeared spontaneously, they worked, more than 3,000 wounded people passed through them, and more than 3,000 wounded people passed through these points alone. Thanks to them, some of the fighters were put into service and a huge number, of course, were saved.

Vladimir Putin: Both civilian and military?

Pavel Polyansky: They were mostly military personnel, but all those who were transported were given assistance. Mostly. There were fewer civilians, and people managed to somehow evacuate and leave. Well, everything, yes, in the general flow. That is, civilian, military, no distinctions were made. Just in percentage terms, there were 90 percent of the military, those who directly participated.

Vladimir Putin: How did you organize your medical supplies?

P. Polyansky: Volunteers. All volunteers. A huge number of people responded all over the country. I do not know if humanitarian aid came here in some convoys at the beginning of all this. There were a lot of things, really people helped. There was no problem with medication.

And then the most important thing is that we managed to establish communication with the Ministry of Health of the Kursk region, with the Ministry of Defense, and all this came to a single result in an orderly manner.

Then, fortunately, these points were no longer needed, because the structures that were supposed to deal with them, they began to deal with them, they were fully deployed. That is, these volunteers, volunteers who worked, went either to hospitals, just to help gain experience, someone liked it, and began to move in this direction further.

Personally, I signed a contract with the Bars–Kursk volunteer formation. I finished my contract, and now I have a vacation. I plan to apply again for the position of head of the medical service. That is, we continue to deal with these issues anyway.

Vladimir Putin: Then tell me a few words, how is this medical service itself, how do you assess it?

P. Polyansky: I am the head of the medical service.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I understand that you still have superiors. Are you satisfied with the way it's organized?

Pavel Polyansky: Yes, I am satisfied. The head, who, for example, is from the Ministry of Defense, the head of the group too–-we have a full understanding with him, and absolutely everything is fine with the Ministry of Defense, any question–-everything is resolved on a call. I'm satisfied. That is, what was in the beginning and what has become—this is a huge difference. And, most importantly, I would also like to note that the educational and methodological base is growing. Unfortunately, war is the engine of medicine. Well, maybe fortunately. Which side to look at. Well, I'm on my side. And the base is growing, and there is really a lot of experience being applied, and a lot of new things. It saves lives, it saves health.

Vladimir Putin: Are you in contact with someone, with any other medical institutions?

Pavel Polyansky: Yes, I am in contact with everyone. Kursk Regional Clinical Hospital. It gives us all possible help. Chief physician Mikhail Ivanovich Lukashov solves any issue. I mean, everyone responds, that is, you don't even need to call, it's not required. That is, just: "Guys, come." It's all done, everything. And not only our division, but also others. Indeed, I only note the positive aspects. There are no negative results.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Igor Gamov: Hello, Mr Putin. Ivan Gamov, a volunteer of the "Molodezhki" [Popular Front] of the Kursk region. Recently, there was a very massive drone raid on the Kursk region, and apartment buildings were damaged. We have received an application for the operational headquarters…

Vladimir Putin: Do you mean from the 6th to the 7th?

Igor Gamov: No. That was on the 14th. We received a request to the operational headquarters that they need our help there. We immediately went there, set up a headquarters there, identified the front of tasks, and started helping people.

The tasks were completely different. We helped people whose apartments had become uninhabitable, helped them get ready to move temporarily to the DPR, and delivered humanitarian aid, food packages and hygiene kits to those who needed it. The most valuable thing during the work was the gratitude of people. This is the most important engine for volunteers, it is the biggest motivation.

Vladimir Putin: Well, what do you do besides volunteer work?

Igor Gamov: I'm studying, first year.

Vladimir Putin: Where?

I. Gamov: South-Western State University.

Vladimir Putin: What sciences do you study?

I. Gamov: Geodesy.

Vladimir Putin: So, volunteer work is just a matter of following the call of the heart, what is it called?

Igor Gamov: Volunteer work... on August 6, when it started, I went to the warehouses. At first, honestly, I thought that until September 1. School starts, and it won't work. But I got so involved that I can't let it go. In addition to the visits of the rapid response team, it is also involved in the collection of food packages at the humanitarian warehouse on Deriglazov Avenue. So I try to participate as actively as possible in everything, to help when you need our help.

Vladimir Putin: What kind of family do you have? Who do you live with?

Igor Gamov: I live with my mother.

Vladimir Putin: What's her name?

I. Gamov: Yevgenia.

Vladimir Putin: Give her my regards. I'm serious, without irony. The family comes from my mother, the upbringing of each of us, including yours.

Alexander Khailov: Hello, Mr President. Anton, Kostroma region. First head of the humanitarian mission in the Kursk region from the Young Guard of United Russia. They were engaged in evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid from the beginning of the invasion. I've only been in charge for two months. We had such a case, we delivered a grandmother of 102 years old with her daughter, and the daughter, 86, delivered to the city of Zheleznogorsk to relatives, the grandmother, unfortunately, was lying down, on the verge of life and death. Honestly, we thought that maybe we wouldn't make it. But still delivered to relatives, everything is fine. After this incident, I made a decision and signed a contract with the THUNDER Cascade division. And so, until May 15, he was a senior UAV calculation operator in the Bryansk direction. On May 15, the contract ended, arrived in Kostroma. Now I'm thinking about what to do, whether to extend the contract.

Vladimir Putin: Did you get bored?

Alexander Khailov: It was really boring. And here is the call–-you need to arrive in the Kursk region again. And I was immediately happy, because acclimatization in Kostroma is terrible. Here the conditions are somehow more pleasant. And now I think, in Kostroma, what to do all the time, but I think that I will continue to deal with humanitarian aid, and maybe now UAV specialists are needed, I will still sign the contract again.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it's true. One of the key areas now.

A. Khailov: Well, today is also good news for my calculation. We worked in the direction of Shostka, Glukhovo and sometimes covered the road to Rylsk where Krupets was located. And today I have a calculation, the guys reported that the village of Shostka, up to a hundred enemy personnel and Iskander.

Vladimir Putin: This is no longer a UAV.

A. Khailov: This is not a UAV, but according to our intelligence.

Vladimir Putin: Yes. They are trying to move towards the border. Well, that's a separate topic.

Dmitry Sychev: Good evening. Denis Sychev, a native of Kyrgyzstan, I live in the Kursk region.

Vladimir Putin: From Kyrgyzstan?

Dmitry Sychev: I am a native of Kyrgyzstan, live in the Kursk region, and am a combat veteran. I took part in the North Caucasus, the head of the "Fighting Brotherhood" of the Kurchatov district, the city of Kurchatov, and part-time commander of the Kurchatov territorial defense.

We have been engaged and are still engaged, and we started in 2022 with fortifications.

Vladimir Putin: Well done, no one flinched, everyone worked hard.

Dmitry Sychev: We all worked and are still working. At the present time, we are also engaged in building both baths and overexposure for our military. We helped with the stabilization centers, worked with the paratroopers, with the Marines, with everyone who applied. We were engaged in the delivery of materials and are still doing it, because not everyone goes there.

And the second thing we have is the evacuation of "two-hundredths", "three-hundredths". To date, our organization has taken out several thousand people, maybe even transported them to hospitals, and we are still helping them.

Vladimir Putin: How many people are on your team?

D. Sychev: Our team consists of 270 people. All volunteers. Most of them are veterans. In fact, everything works. It's a team effort. So naturally, one person can't do it. Only as a team can something be done, and only together are we strong. Therefore, the victory will be only for us.

Vladimir Putin: We are a team.

Dmitry Sychev: Yes, the team, for sure.

Evgeny Karachevtsev: Good afternoon, Vladimir Vladimirovich, Sergey Vladilenovich, Alexander Yevseyevich. My name is Priest Evgeny Karachevtsev, rector of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kurchatov.

In 2022, when the whole country was practically engaged in helping those children who, including on the territory of the Kursk region along the state border, were stationed by divisions, help, food, somehow a little with everyday life to help organize the beginning, there was a need for sterile dressing material, and on the territory of the Kurchatov temple, in the city of Kurchatov, in the in the city of Kursk, in the city of Zheleznogorsk, manufactories for the production of sterile dressing materials and napkins for operating rooms were practically organized.

Together with a group of veterans "Alpha" began to deliver here to field hospitals, which were located on the state border, during the evacuation of the wounded, then Zaporozhye direction, Kherson direction. This group processes almost 300 kilometers of gauze per year. All these funds are collected from personal savings. Grandmothers on old, Soviet machines sew these napkins, fold them neatly, all this is practically at their expense.

And today, when the enemy came to our territory, there was an urgent need to organize, of course, the help of the FMBA, such material as we were doing. To date, this work has already been more or less put on stream. We help, we continue to work in the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, where it is in demand.

Well, to date, even in cooperation with the evacuation group, we have mastered individual dressing bags. Today we are even upgrading, because there is a need for this dressing bag to be on an elastic bandage so that it can be tightened quickly.

The fact that you asked at the very beginning how to help. Of course, there is not enough material. There is a desire, there are people who are ready to help. But there are not enough funds. For example, if a roll of gauze cost 9 thousand rubles in Ivanovo when we started working, today it costs about 17 thousand rubles, which is almost twice the cost. Naturally, this is all funded by our churches and so on and so forth.

I would like to thank those guys who worked together in the city of Kurchatov, when it all started here practically, not tens of kilometers away, but kilometers away, there were already shooting battles, especially in the first days, small sabotage groups. Evacuation points were set up in the temples. Food is prepared for several days in case the population needs shelter, because temples are located in large areas of residential high-rise buildings. We were ready to accept them.

With the participation of the Popular Front, for which special thanks, we conducted training on first aid to personnel, priests who work and serve in churches,and first aid for people with explosive injuries, severe and complex fractures. State Duma deputy Dmitry Khubezov visited us. I took part here.

Well, actually, we continue to do this. There is a popular belief that the war ends with priests and teachers. We are preparing for a peaceful life. And we hope that our help, participation in rehabilitation, help to those children who will come, come already from the fighting, and civilians who need help, support, that our help will be needed.

Vladimir Putin: The help of clergymen is always in demand. Both in peacetime and in the hour of severe trials. Always. I would like to note that the clergy of almost all our traditional confessions are literally on duty. They also provide assistance to people on the line of contact–-and, I repeat, of all faiths–-and in the rear, away from the fighting. And this help is in high demand, because the most important guarantee of any success, especially in difficult times and in the conditions of combat operations, is the internal composure of a person and readiness for such actions that the Motherland expects from him.

And here, of course, motivation is of paramount importance. Of course, you can't do without equipment and ammunition, but internal motivation still comes first. But here the role and significance of spiritual mentors cannot be overestimated.

Evgeny Karachevtsev: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: I know that, unfortunately, there are also losses among the clergy.

Thank you very much.

Alexander Sidorenkov: Alexander Sidorenkov, Head of the United Russia Young Guard humanitarian mission in the Kursk region. From the beginning of August 2024, like all our colleagues, we started working quickly. During this time, more than 470 activists from 47 regions of the Russian Federation took part in the humanitarian mission. We were engaged and continue to be engaged in evacuation, work in temporary accommodation points, work in border hospitals. We have constantly established field work in the border area. This is before the ban.

Alexander Yevseyevich, excuse me. Alexander Evseevich scolds us like a father that we go there, worries. But right now, we're not breaking it. When it was possible to go to Suju, we evacuated 22 people, provided bread and water. In general, more than 150 people were evacuated. This is Glushkovsky district, Korenevsky district.

We got into different situations. December 20, 2024 came under fire, there was a massive attack. There was one of the epicenters, where we just got there, managed to drive behind the house. The guys were behind us. Unfortunately, they did not have time, they died. We returned to our destination. 5 wounded people were taken to the hospital, one was lost.

And most importantly, when we come to the border region with humanitarian aid, both to civilians and to the military, and when we see these eyes, we see gratitude... It is impossible to convey what these people have experienced. We understand that this is our country, this is our homeland, and our cause is just, and victory will be ours. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Alexander Yevseyevich, you are doing the right thing in restraining the guys. The obvious thing. But if a tragedy occurs, we must not forget about our loved ones.

A. Khinshtein: Of course. If, alas, such tragedies occur in our country, then, of course, regional support measures are being implemented here. We try to help and contribute to everything as much as possible.

As for the ban, today it is really very dangerous to be there from all points of view. Because the territory is mined, because the enemy is very active in shelling it. 25-30 kilometers to the border of combat contact is just really an extremely dangerous zone.

Vladimir Putin: I want to go back to what I just said. Regional support measures for families are important. But if you need some kind of support from the federal center, just say so right away. Ok?

A. Khinshtein: Of course.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Elena Nelepina: Mr President, hello. I am Ekaterina A. Nelepina, head of the regional headquarters "We are together". I would like to tell you about the activities of the "We are Together" headquarters, which is taking place in the Kursk region.

The headquarters is actively working with internally displaced persons and started in August on the basis of the Kursk State Circus, with former director Natalia Leonova. And then we worked there for about two months, and the first flows of internally displaced people came to us. And it turned out that it was one of the largest points of delivery of humanitarian aid. We just got help, and we distributed it, gave it out. There was support from the administration.

Then, later, we formed a core of volunteers who lost everything. That is, now I have about 15 people working in my headquarters, who are internally displaced persons.

Vladimir Putin: Are they internally displaced persons themselves?

E. Nelepina: They are internally displaced persons themselves. They came to work for us in the circus back then, and now they work at my headquarters and at other points of issue they work too. They've lost everything.

You know, the situation was very difficult when we were working back in August and September. A female volunteer comes to me, sits down, and says, " I don't have a home. I just did some repairs. I don't have a home. I have a daughter. I do not know where to live." And we, you know… Go, work there, work here, work. And now I have a man working for me, for example, he is over 60 years old, he was under occupation for 7 months, and we barely got him out. My daughter asked, his wife died there, and he works for me, because my daughter works at work, and on the 17th floor in a two-room apartment, it is clear that it may be bad for him. And now, thanks to the fact that he helps us at the headquarters, constantly in public, he is, of course, psychologically holding on.

We receive help from all regions of the country. Of course, thanks to the Russian Post. When there were free packages, there was more humanitarian aid. Now we have already established relations with the Popular Front and with another organization, and they send them to us. "Silver volunteers", volunteers from all regions. I would like to mention Yamal, Khanym, a small museum, they weave nets, they send us the same gauze, some bandages, dry showers according to our needs. These are "silver volunteers", 55 plus. Orenburg region, Buguruslansky district, village of Mikhaylovka, provides the headquarters of "We are together" with parcels, 5-7 parcels per week. And I know four other units they're sending to. Inter-settlement library. And they send us what we need, and then we pass it on to civilians, internally displaced persons. We received humanitarian aid through the "We are Together" program, and we issue it through the system of issuing humanitarian aid. And the military, we have units, come, on request, what we have, we give out. Thanks to the administration of the Kursk region, many thanks, we have a free room where we can store everything and where the headquarters works.

A cargo recently arrived from Tyumen. Today, we have already transferred part of the cargo to the Kurchatov and other directions, what they need, what we have.

We also provide the work of the multifunctional center "Potok", which is from the administration of the Kursk region, there is an innovation, there is a single window system. Volunteers work there, answer the hotline, and help together with the Ministry of Education. That is, a person who has a problem, an internally displaced person, can call, they are connected immediately with a specialist, so that he does not come. Because Rylsk, Glushkovo call. It's hard to come here. And we combine all the necessary payments for children, health care, and social security.

We have a hotline at our headquarters, and people call us and say, "We can bring you humanitarian aid" or "we need humanitarian aid."

And our volunteers work at the sorting points, issuing humanitarian aid in the city of Kursk and in municipal headquarters, which we have in 33 municipalities.

Vladimir Putin: Is the work going well? Or should something be done?

Elena Nelepina: Our work is well established, yes. We had a need for a warehouse. This problem was solved thanks to Alexander Evseevich. The phone number and payment were provided by the Red Cross, that is, telephone sets for free and mobile communication for the hotline. We have solved these problems.

We have a problem–-to get something that we can help people with.

Vladimir Putin: It's clear.

Remark: Hello. Federal headquarters of the Combat Brotherhood volunteer company. The news that there was an invasion of the Kursk region, for us, for the activists of the volunteer company, came on the territory of the Rzhev land. There we hold our annual "Memorial Watches". We were originally born as a search engine movement.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, they have been reformatted from Memory Watch to forum. We conduct basic military training and tactical medicine there, because from the very first days of the special military operation, our activists entered the not yet fully liberated Mariupol and provided assistance to local residents.

At the forum, we interviewed the guys, we told them this unpleasant news, who wants to go, go right now to the Kursk region to provide any possible assistance. The number of hands raised was much higher than the number of seats in cars. We selected the bravest guys, moved here.

A huge number of interesting stories were happening here, which did not happen in the Donbas. The region is unique, the people are unique. Here we came across the idea of how harshly the enemy desecrates our monuments, what vandalism our monuments face. Not only on the territory of Ukraine itself,but also on the territory of other unfriendly countries.

On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, our movement has created a register, a catalog of all desecrated and demolished monuments. Please allow me, I have this catalog with me, I will give it to you as a gift. Please study and take a look. It was made by activists of the volunteer company. This is not some custom printing house. The entire Internet was searched, and real, live photos were selected. In order to preserve cultural heritage, here is a live, real catalog.

Vladimir Putin: Well, it is clear why this is done. In order to erase the memory, the historical memory of who we are, where we came from. What's this for? And so that there is no future. That's how everything is really elementary. And also to erase the memory of those who look in the direction of Russia.

This is a very important job. Thank you.

We'll be finishing up. In conclusion, I would like to thank you. I started with this, with words of gratitude–-and I want to finish with this. And here's what I want to say.

You are doing a very important and noble thing. Both noble and important. And judging by what you've just said, unfortunately, this is also a dangerous case.

But I think you will agree with me in what I am about to say. You will have a great life, God forbid, each of you will go further, you will achieve some results in your life. But what you are doing now in this difficult situation for the region, the region, and the country will probably remain with you for the rest of your life, as well as the most vivid things that you were directly involved in–-the service to the country and people.

And Pavel Nikolaevich, and here is Denis next to you. Denis said: "We are a team." Here we are--a team, and the whole country today we have one team. And this is the absolute success of all our initiatives. These are the necessary conditions for achieving all our goals. I'm sure they will. I look at you, listen to you: strong, charged people, the main thing is that they are positively charged. Thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

There seems to be an enormous difference between the two actual opposing sides in this conflict—NATO/Outlaw US Empire versus Russia and Russian speakers: In the former, there’s no concern for the fate of people as we see with the elevation of war making and rent seeking over working to advance people’s wellbeing, whereas in the latter Russian government at all levels is charged with uplifting the people’s wellbeing by working together with business, workers and government combining efforts as a team. The collective habit of Russians you’d think would also be present in their Slavic Ukrainian cousins, but a quick look at how the government treats its military and the gross level of corruption everywhere one looks tells a very different story. What we saw in 2014 is the vast majority of Russian speakers opposing the Maidan because they knew what was to come—a massive Pogrom of Russian speakers. So, they did what they as Russians seem to do naturally—they banded together to support and defend each other. And Russians came to Donbass to help in that support and defense. IMO, every time Putin meets with any of the volunteer organizations he’s humbled by the experience. IMO, members of those organizations needed to be on Red Square on 9 May to be recognized and honored. People having lost everything volunteer to help other who lost everything as a way to support those who support them. IMO, invading Russia was a huge mistake as it only served to significantly raise the motivation and togetherness of Russians and made it very hard to oppose the SMO. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Russians have adopted the Team Biden Mantra—As Long as it Takes to attain our goals.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!