Putin's Annual Address to the Extended Board Meeting of the Ministry of Defense

Always very important.

Moment of silence for the SMO’s fallen.

Another view of the moment of silence.

The annual expanded meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense again took place at the National Defense Control Center. Major members of government and civil society also attended as usual. Past transcripts of this event included the remarks by the Defense Minister and the head of the General Staff; however, this time they are excluded, although minister Belousov’s long statement is shown in the video. Here’s Putin’s address:

Vladimir Putin: Dear comrades,

Today, as part of an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, we will discuss the main results of work for 2024, define tasks for strengthening the defense capability and further development of the Armed Forces.

I will immediately note that the outgoing year has become a landmark in achieving the goals of the special military operation. Thanks to the professionalism and courage of our soldiers, the heroic work of employees of defense enterprises and the truly nationwide support of the army and navy, the Russian troops firmly own the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact.

This year alone, 189 localities were liberated. I would like to sincerely thank our heroes: the soldiers and officers who selflessly and bravely fight on the front line, the personnel of the Ministry of Defense, Rosgvardiya, our special services and other law enforcement agencies, who clearly perform all the tasks assigned, no matter how difficult they may be, do not spare themselves, do not spare their lives for the sake of victory, for the sake of The Fatherland.

It is our duty to always remember our comrades who died defending the Motherland and our people, and to surround their families and children with constant care. I have already said it many times and I will repeat it again: their children are our children. We must never forget this.

Please observe a minute of silence in memory of our fallen comrades.

(A minute of silence is observed.)

Thank you.

Dear Board members,

Today, the military-political situation in the world remains difficult and unstable. Thus, the bloodshed in the Middle East continues unabated, and the conflict potential remains high in a number of other regions of the world.

We see that the current US administration and virtually the entire collective West do not give up trying to maintain their global dominance, continue to impose their so-called rules on the world community, which they repeatedly change, distorting as it is convenient for them. In fact, there is only one stable rule: no rules for those who do this, for those who consider themselves the head of the whole world, those who consider themselves representatives of the Lord on earth, although they themselves do not believe in the Lord.

And against undesirable states [they] are waging hybrid wars, implementing a policy of deterrence, including in relation to Russia. In an effort to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat on us, the United States continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in Kiev with weapons and money, send mercenaries and military advisers, and thereby encourage further escalation of the conflict.

At the same time, under the pretext of the mythical Russian threat... they simply frighten their population with the fact that we are going to attack someone, because the tactics are very simple: they bring us to the red line, through which we can no longer retreat, we begin to respond, and immediately frighten their population—then, in ancient times, the Soviet one--now already a Russian threat. Meanwhile, NATO countries themselves are increasing military spending. Strike groups of the alliance's troops are being formed and assembled near the Russian borders. So, the number of American military personnel in Europe has already exceeded 100 thousand people.

NATO's aspirations have long gone beyond the so-called zone of its historical responsibility. In addition to the so-called eastern flank, the alliance is increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. At the instigation of the United States, new military-political alliances are being formed that undermine the security architecture that has been established for decades.

Of equal concern is the United States' efforts to create and prepare for the deployment of high-precision ground-based strike weapons with a firing range of up to 5,500 kilometers in advanced zones. At the same time, the transfer and deployment of these missile systems in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region is already being worked out.

Let me remind you that earlier such measures were prohibited by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which was terminated at the initiative of the United States. We have repeatedly stated that the termination of this treaty will lead to negative consequences for the entire global security, but we have stressed that we will not deploy intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles until such time as American weapons of this kind appear in any region of the world. In fact, Russia took these obligations unilaterally. But, as I have already said, if the United States starts deploying such systems, then all our voluntary restrictions will be lifted by us.

Given the growing geopolitical tensions, we are forced to take additional measures to ensure the security of Russia and our allies, doing it carefully and deliberately, without getting involved in a full-scale arms race to the detriment of the socio-economic development of our country.

We pay serious attention to improving the combat strength of the Armed Forces and increasing their capabilities. As part of these tasks, the Leningrad and Moscow military districts, as well as a number of new units and formations, were formed. The regular strength of the Armed Forces has been increased to one and a half million servicemen.

The army and navy are being re-equipped with modern weapons and equipment at an accelerated pace. For example, the share of such weapons in the strategic nuclear forces has already reached 95 percent.

At the same time, we clarified the basic principles of the use of nuclear weapons, which are set out in the updated Framework of State Policy in the field of Nuclear Deterrence. I want to emphasize once again that no one should accuse us of rattling nuclear weapons: this is the policy of nuclear deterrence.

Along with the nuclear triad, general-purpose forces are developing rapidly. The troops receive advanced robotic systems, including those using artificial intelligence technologies. Among them are reconnaissance and attack drones, unmanned boats and multi-purpose robotic platforms.

Today, it is important to continue the progressive, systematic development of the army and navy, to achieve the goals of a special military operation, and to be ready to respond promptly and effectively to potential security challenges of our country. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on solving the following priority tasks.

First. Of course, strategic nuclear forces remain one of the key tools for preserving stability and protecting Russia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will continue to support their potential and balanced development, and work to create new systems and complexes of deterrence forces. At the same time, it is important to keep non-strategic nuclear forces on constant alert, and to continue the practice of conducting exercises with the development of issues of their use.

Second. I have already spoken today about the risks associated with the US deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. We will respond comprehensively to such threats. At the same time, the most important task is to ensure timely detection of the launch of such missiles and their interception. At the same time, it is necessary to debug all issues of mass production and deployment of such domestic shock systems, including hypersonic ones.

As you know, Russia's newest powerful weapon is the Oreshnik medium-range missile system. In November, in response to strikes on the territory of our country using Western weapons, it was successfully used: a ballistic missile with non-nuclear hypersonic equipment was used. In the near future, mass production of such systems should be ensured to protect the security of Russia and our allies. And it will certainly be done.

The third task. It is necessary to actively implement the experience gained during a special military operation, and in the combat training of troops, as well as in the programs of higher military educational institutions. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the methods of conducting military operations, clarify the basic statutory documents, increase the level of proficiency in weapons and equipment, as well as the effectiveness of troop management, especially in the tactical and operational-tactical levels.

I would like to emphasize once again that talented officers and sergeants who have proved themselves in a difficult combat situation should become the basis of the command staff of the Armed Forces, as well as become teachers of military educational institutions.

Fourth. The experience of conducting a special military operation should also be fully taken into account when determining priority areas for the development of domestic weapons and equipment, as well as tactics for their use. For example, high-precision weapons systems use new methods of targeting the final flight path of missiles, which allowed them to be used against complex and fortified objects, and to be used successfully.

The noise immunity of the onboard equipment of missile weapons has been significantly increased, and new ways of completing flight tasks have been worked out. In the future, we need to calculate them in real time for quickly identified targets–-an extremely important task for our military-industrial complex. I'll tell you more about this.

Another important innovation was the direct exchange of information between the units directly involved in the special operation and the defense industry organizations as I just mentioned. As a result, for a number of products, the average time to eliminate the identified shortcomings is now five to seven days. But even this is not enough: we need to go even faster.

There are also positive developments in the organization of equipment repairs and fine-tuning to meet the requirements of the combat situation. But, of course, there are also problems, they remain and need to be consistently addressed. And of course, we must continue to do everything necessary to accelerate the introduction of advanced technologies and other innovations in the military sphere.

Fifth. To reduce the time spent on decision-making when managing units on the battlefield, an interspecific information exchange system based on mobile devices has been created and has shown its effectiveness. More than six and a half thousand such systems have already been delivered to the troops. As a result of their application, the time for setting tasks was reduced by one and a half to two times. Now, due to the introduction of advanced developments in the defense industry, it is necessary to form a single information contour as soon as possible, combining intelligence and destruction tools at the strategic, operational and tactical levels of control.

Sixth. It is necessary to increase the production of robotic complexes and unmanned systems of various classes and types. At the beginning of the special operation, we had problems in this area: some samples turned out to be expensive and difficult to operate. Today, several thousand drones for various purposes are delivered to the troops every day. We must continue to improve their combat and operational characteristics. It is equally important to train the operators of such complexes, to train them according to programs developed on the basis of the experience of real combat operations.

And the seventh. We need to continue and further expand military and military-technical cooperation with our allies and partners, with those who are ready and willing to work with us, and this is the majority of countries in the world.

Dear comrades,

I have already spoken today about the huge support of the army and navy from the Russian society. People understand what we are fighting for, what we are defending, help the front-line soldiers and join their ranks themselves. An extremely important thing that reflects the state of our society.

I will give you a figure: this year, on average, more than 1,000 people enter the military service under a contract every day. People voluntarily go to the front. And the social guarantees of military personnel and their families should be constantly strengthened and developed. This is the most important, systemic task of the state.

Yes, much has been done in this area in recent years. This year alone, more than 55,000 military personnel are provided with housing, and in the next three years, another 113 billion rubles are planned to be allocated for providing housing subsidies to military personnel.

The accumulative mortgage system demonstrates high efficiency. Over 20 years of its operation, more than 202 thousand servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been provided with housing. I will add that we need to continue to equip military camps, of course, to increase the level of medical support.

The priority in the work of all authorities should be to address the social issues of the participants in the special operation, to take care of the families of the victims—I have already mentioned this at the beginning--and those who were seriously injured during the fighting. This should be the focus of our attention. It is necessary to delve into the problems of each of our comrades, his family and really help to solve their problems. This is the task of the Ministry of Defense, the task of the Government of the Russian Federation, and the task of all leaders at all levels of government.

In conclusion, I would like to once again thank all the participants of the special military operation for their valor, courage and heroism and wish the personnel and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense success in their service, in their difficult and responsible work aimed at protecting the sovereignty and national interests of Russia and the security of our people.

I am confident that you will continue to meet all the tasks set before you with dignity.

Thank you for your attention.

<…>

Vladimir Putin: Let me just say a few words at the end of this part of your work, according to tradition.

The Minister spoke about the illegitimacy of the regime in Kiev, with which we are at war. I want to emphasize once again: we are not at war with the Ukrainian people, but with the regime-the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, which seized power back in 2014. This is the source of power – a coup d'etat.

All the troubles of both Ukraine and Russia began just after this bloody state unconstitutional coup. This is important today, because these people who are in power commit crimes against their own people and ours every day. This regime in general has lost–-is losing, in any case, obviously--the signs of statehood.

When we talk about illegitimacy, what do we mean? Didn't you go to the polls? They didn't go. Does the constitution make it possible to extend the powers of the President? No. The Constitution makes it possible to extend the powers of only a representative body of government—the Rada, everyone. And the reference to martial law does not matter: there are no ways in the constitution to extend the powers of presidential power.

And where is the supreme court? Where is the Constitutional Court? A legitimate question. The chairman of the supreme Court is in prison–-they just keep silent about it, no one talks about it, but they put him behind bars. The powers of the supreme court include, among other things, the cancellation of unauthorized decisions of the President. Several cancellations took place, after that–-to prison. And the head of the regime immediately, on the same day, announced: he will sit. As you know, in all civilized countries, whether a person is guilty or not guilty, whether he will sit or not, is determined only by the court. No, here representatives of the administrative bodies said: he will sit. This is the supreme court.

There is also a constitutional one. Do you know what happened to the constitutional Court? The President of the Constitutional Court is no longer allowed to go to work by the security service—they simply won't let him go to work. In the end, the constitutional court as a whole was paralyzed, and the president of the Constitutional Court himself went abroad, where, as far as we know, he is provided with state protection in the country of his stay, because there is a threat to his life.

Are these signs of statehood? No, these are just signs of the loss of statehood. Therefore, crimes are committed one after another.

I think that another crime will be reducing the mobilization age to 18 years. This is exactly a crime, because even if you reduce it to 14, as in Hitler's Germany, creating a "Hitler youth", it will not change the situation on the battlefield. This is clear to everyone.

But I think that at the behest of those countries whose interests are protected by the Kiev regime–-it does not protect the interests of the Ukrainian people, this is already obvious today–-at the behest of those whose interests it serves and protects, they will also reduce the mobilization to 18 years–-and the boys will be driven to slaughter. Just as today they catch people on the street, like stray dogs, in the course of forced mobilization, and drive them today under bullets, so it seems to me that they will also chase the boys. And then these figures of this regime will simply run away abroad under the cover of those whose tasks they are performing today, that's all. Most likely, it will be so.

Some figures of former, recent years have already fled; they are already sitting abroad, this is well known. And they feel good, because they stole money from the Ukrainian people, put it in their pockets. And all these "pockets" are also abroad, with those sponsors who keep them on the hook: they stole money, bills are there, everything–-and they dance to any music, performing any tasks.

This, I think, will continue until we reach the goals of the special military operation.

He said that the mobilization is happening in Ukraine, and you all know this very well. He mentioned that in this sense, we have a different staff. Last year, more than 300 thousand of our citizens, our men, came to military enlistment offices and signed contracts for service in the Armed Forces–-more than 300 thousand.

This year, at the moment, there are already more than 430 thousand, and this flow of volunteers does not actually stop. Thanks to this attitude to the fate of our country, to the fate of our children, we are doing what I said and what the Minister [of Defense Andrei Belousov] said: in fact, this is a turning point on the line of contact and our combat activity, a complete interception of the strategic initiative. But, of course, this is not enough.

By the way, when I spoke about these crimes, I mean not only crimes against the Ukrainian people, first of all against ours, including in the Kursk region and other border regions.

Yes, of course, from a military point of view, no matter who you talk to, everyone–-both our and foreign experts–-believes that Kursk is an adventure, and they say: "Kursk adventure". This is obvious, because there is no sense in what the Kiev regime is doing in the border regions. But from the point of view of crimes against the peoples of Russia–-this is an obvious thing-–this is a crime. This is especially true for the suffering of the civilian population.

Here, of course, the holy duty of the Armed Forces is to throw the enemy out of our territory. The task of the military justice authorities is to record all these crimes, especially against the civilian civilian population. And the task of special services is to find and punish criminals.

Now, as for how much money we spend and what it translates into–-an extremely important thing, of course. The Minister said: we spend 6.3 percent of GDP on the military component—on improving and strengthening our defense capability. This is a decent amount of money, which is about 2.5 percent higher than we spent before. But this is not the largest, oddly enough, expenditure in the world--even among countries that do not have any armed conflicts.

But nevertheless, this is a lot of money, and here we need to use it very efficiently–-very efficiently, first of all, ensuring social guarantees for our military personnel and the effective operation of the military-industrial complex. And what is very important is the rational use of what the country provides to the Armed Forces: this applies to social services, equipment, and weapons. It is very important to receive everything in a timely manner, correctly assess what is coming in, be able to use it and train personnel, prepare people who can do it–-they do it competently and effectively.

There are a lot of tasks here. In general, they are being resolved--both in what is happening in the people's agro-industrial complex, as we are now saying, and in what is happening right on the line of contact. And we need to set up our entire military organization for such joint work to achieve the final result.

In this regard, the latest types of weapons, including those that are well-known both here and abroad. First of all, I mean medium-range weapons. You all remember very well and know that the Soviet Union went to the elimination of medium-range ground-based missiles. And the Americans did the same with their Pershing machines.

But the Americans, in addition to land-based medium-range missiles, also had the same sea-based and air-based missile systems, while the Soviet Union did not. Therefore, to a certain extent, we have adopted unilateral disarmament. The potential enemy kept these systems at sea and in the air, and we didn't get anything at all.

But in our time, in Russian times, we have created much more modern sea-based complexes than in the United States. These are both Kalibr and Zircon hypersonic systems. They created the latest X-101 medium-range air-launched missiles with a range that is many times greater than that of a potential enemy–-over 4,000 kilometers. And this system can be equipped with a special warhead, that is, nuclear.

And finally, the already well-proven complex "Hazel", very powerful. I want to repeat once again–-experts know this, the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces [Strategic Missile Forces] Sergey Karakayev is here, he thinks so and told me about it–-with the combined use, with the group use of several complexes at once, this is comparable in power to the use of nuclear weapons. But it is not nuclear, because there is no nuclear fuel, no nuclear component, no contamination. And this is a very important element in deciding which means of armed struggle we can use.

But we must pay close attention to what is happening in other countries, what is entering service or may enter service in the near future, in the near future in other leading military countries. Thus, as we have done so far, we need to act precisely in the near future and in the medium term.

Once again, I will return to what was just said: we spend 6.3 percent of GDP on increasing and strengthening our defense capabilities. In order for all the components in the country, all the components of the state's vital activity–-the economy, the social sphere in the broadest sense of the word, science, education, and healthcare–-to develop, we also cannot swing these expenses indefinitely, increase them indefinitely.

I say this so that we all understand that the Russian state and people are giving everything they can to the Armed Forces to fulfill the tasks that you and we are facing. And our task is to ensure the security of the Russian people, to ensure the security of our people and the future of Russia.

I very much hope that the pace that has been gained in recent months on the line of contact will be maintained. I want to thank you for your service and wish you all the best.

Thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

IMO, the last bolded paragraph and associated phrase above it is an allusion to the arrest of several generals for corruption that harmed the Fatherland, stole from the people and soldiers alike, but without directly referring to those people or their crimes. 6.3% of GDP where it was 3.8% before, the latter being an astonishing admission that shows the recent intensity on making up for the precipitous fall in production during the 1990s. One thousand people daily enlist, but what of the great shortage of skilled workers estimated to be 3 million; when will the demographic problem begin to bite Russia’s military? IMO, these words bear repeating:

We see that the current US administration and virtually the entire collective West do not give up trying to maintain their global dominance, continue to impose their so-called rules on the world community, which they repeatedly change, distorting as it is convenient for them. In fact, there is only one stable rule: no rules for those who do this, for those who consider themselves the head of the whole world, those who consider themselves representatives of the Lord on earth, although they themselves do not believe in the Lord….

In an effort to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat on us, the United States continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in Kiev with weapons and money, send mercenaries and military advisers, and thereby encourage further escalation of the conflict….

Strike groups of the alliance's troops are being formed and assembled near the Russian borders. So, the number of American military personnel in Europe has already exceeded 100 thousand people.

That’s about as explicit as Putin gets when naming the Outlaw US Empire THE #1 threat to the Russian people and their state. NATO effectively is the Empire’s tool, and he describes how slavishly the illegitimate Ukrainians obey their master—even to the point of destroying Ukraine demographically. And most importantly, those running the Empire are Godless, just as were the Communists, and share the same megalomaniac goal of ruling the planet, subjecting all to their rules that are ever changing to suit their favor. Those within the Hall didn’t need any reminder of the above bolded selections; rather, those words were for all those troops and the public watching via video link. Readers will also see passages where Putin’s talking to the wider Russian audience, particularly regarding support for the troops and their families. That the children of the fallen become the children of all Russia is a very powerful statement.

The seven points for improvement were very similar to last year’s points. The SMO’s goals will be met, but there was no indication when that might occur. The Rada is the only legitimate institution, and even that’s questionable, the latter something Putin chose not to discuss. The word negotiate isn’t present, which will generate much speculation, although Russia’s basic grounds are well known. Recently, many including myself, see the need to arrive at an agreed Eurasian security structure as the main part of any Ukraine settlement. That and other related topics will be addressed in an upcoming analytical essay covering much that I’ve remained silent about for far too long.

Note that Putin said nothing about Syria or Korea, nor about CSTO or the upcoming security document to be signed with Iran. The rest of the board meeting was conducted as a closed session. Looking at Russian English language media, I discovered a report by RT on Belousov’s portion of the event:

A direct clash between Russia and NATO could happen within the next ten years and the country must be prepared for it, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov has said….

Moscow’s ongoing standoff with the US and its allies “continues to intensify and expand,” he warned.

In such conditions, one of the main goals for the Russian Defense Ministry “is ensuring full readiness for any development of the situation in the medium term,” the minister said.

This includes “a possible military conflict with NATO in Europe in the next decade,” he added.

Belousov made it clear that such a clash would be provoked by the US-led military bloc, and not Moscow.

The possibility of such a conflict is “indicated by the decisions that were made at the NATO summit in July. This is also reflected in the doctrinal documents of the US and other NATO countries,” he explained.

He noted that NATO was currently switching to a new combat readiness system that is expected to allow it to deploy a 100,000-strong grouping along Russia’s western borders within ten days, a 300,000-strong grouping within a month, and a 800,000-strong grouping within 180 days.

In the final declaration of its summit in Washington, NATO member states pledged to continue supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. The document blamed Moscow for seeking to “fundamentally reconfigure the Euro-Atlantic security architecture.” The bloc’s members also described Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security” that “will persist into the long term.” [Emphasis Original]

Well, the NATOidots got one thing correct: Russia clearly seeks a new security structure which would eliminate the need for NATO. But the most significant threat to European security has already shown itself via its actions—The Outlaw US Empire. TASS has provided a similar readout of Belousov’s report that highlights ‘Ukrainian losses exceeded 560,000 servicemen killed and wounded in 2024, and the enemy lost almost 1 million people over the entire period of the special military operation.” It also says “Russia and its partners in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the CIS need to create ‘effective mechanisms for collective response’ to new threats.”

South Korea’s very fortunate to be so far away from Europe and NATO, which allows its people to show some spine.

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