Rehabbing Soldiers Talk to Putin

On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Vladimir Putin visited CITO JSC, one of the leading domestic enterprises of the medical industry and the rehabilitation industry. The video of Putin’s visit and chat is available at this link, while the transcript of their conversation can be found here. Putin also visited the Scientific and Practical Center for Medical and Social Rehabilitation of the Disabled named after L.I. Shvetsova, which has been featured in a previous Gym report. Both are state-of-the-art medical facilities. Here’s their conversation:

Vladimir Putin: Hi, guys!

Remark: Hello!

Vladimir Putin: How does rehabilitation work? Are you used to your new state?

Replica: That's right. Already new victories and achievements.

Remark: Someone gets used to it gradually.

Remark: Someone recently has a prosthetic leg. There are guys who have been away for two years. Many achievements, victories, and ambitions.

Vladimir Putin: It is very good that there are ambitions. You also went to the war zone with ambition, because without ambition there is nothing to do there, you need character there, and you have it. And, despite such serious injuries, the ambitions remained, which means that everything will be fine, everything will be fine.

I saw [at CITO] how the guys ' rehabilitation was going. The main thing is that all this construction allows you to live a full life – the way you lived before this severe injury, and that this does not prevent you from implementing the plans that were before and that are now being formed: both in the service – for those who are going to continue to serve – and in civilian life.

The state should do everything possible to ensure the implementation of your plans. And for myself, I think that one of my most important personal tasks is to make you feel "on the horse", despite all the difficulties and problems that arise-you, your relatives, families, children, wives, and your parents.

Surely you have any questions or suggestions?

Remark: Yes, if I may.

Vladimir Putin: Come on.

Question: A very important question for all of us: in March of this year, you launched a program for training managerial personnel among participants of the special military operation called "Time of Heroes".

Vladimir Putin: You probably remember, right? In St. Petersburg, I met with the guys who participated in the SVO. This idea was born there.

Question: We have heard a lot about this program. We know that both active military personnel and those dismissed from military service can take part in it.

Many of us would like to take part in this program in order to be useful in the civil field. In November, the second recruitment for this program was announced. Tell me, could we participate in this program?

Vladimir Putin: To be honest, I don't remember when recruitment for the second stream ends, but I think it's until the end of January. Recruitment started in November, and I think it ends at the end of January, on the 25th.

The simplest possible conditions are to make an attempt to participate in this program. In the first stream, 83 people were recruited and selected by specialists. A lot of applications were submitted, several tens of thousands.

A. Tsivileva: 45,000.

Vladimir Putin: 44. The selection process is quite tough. It is clear that it is connected with the fact that people who claim to be engaged in managerial activities or activities in high positions in business, in some of our large companies, of course, need preliminary training. This includes management experience, appropriate education, and so on.

I asked to simplify the selection process as much as possible. How can this be done? Send your application either by mail or via the Internet. It is clear that if people are—as you know better than anyone else—in a war zone, then the Internet may not be there. So you can send it by mail. It can be sent for you by someone – your military friends, your comrades, relatives at your request. And then testing and selection takes place over the Internet.

If a person is currently at war or on the front line, then the personnel service of the Ministry of Defense is working with the Administration staff to find this person, find a fighter, and a group that is engaged in selection goes to him. Of course, it does not go to the front line, it is on the second line, but with the help of personnel units of the Ministry of Defense, the corresponding candidate is brought to the second line, and appropriate work is carried out with him.

In the first stream, there are 83 people—there are decent guys, 12 Heroes of Russia, the rest are awarded Orders of Courage, strong guys—in fact, such as you, and everything is going very well for them. The first recruitment program continues. Now we are starting the second one. So I wish you every success.

Replica: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin:I am sure that many of you will succeed.

Question: Mr President, there is also a small question on this topic. One of the main conditions for participation in this program is the availability of managerial experience.

Vladimir Putin: Exactly.

Question: But at the same time, there are many guys who do not have such experience, but who have a desire to participate in this program.

Will they be given the opportunity to take part either in this program or, perhaps, in some other program?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, we are creating other programs, including making it easier to get an education, and we will definitely do this. Everyone who wants to improve, get an education--this will be a separate area, we will definitely do it. We will do everything possible to ensure that those who have such an inner ambition, the need to get this education, some skills--we will create a special direction in this work. We will help children enroll in relevant educational institutions. Necessarily. And then you can take the next step.

Guys, we will definitely do all this.

Question: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the fact that you have recently done a lot in our country to create conditions and develop active sports. Thank you for setting up the Defenders of the Fatherland State Fund with branches all over the country on your initiative. The Foundation pays serious support to veterans and families of fallen heroes.

The Paralympic experience is very useful. Using the example of Paralympians, we can see that it is possible to achieve serious sporting results, return to normal life, and social relevance. Sport for us is primarily a discipline, social rehabilitation.

Last year, the Russian Paralympic Committee opened an educational and methodological center for Paralympic sports in Moscow. Such centers are needed in all regions of the Russian Federation. For us, disabled veterans, they will become a launching pad for training for Paralympic sports and for preparing for participation in competitions between veterans of the Northern Military District, such as the Defenders of the Fatherland Cup, which is organized by the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation together with the Russian Paralympic Committee. I personally took part in the final.

Vladimir Putin: In Ufa?

Question: This is an inter-regional event, and at the end the final is held on the federal territory of Sirius. From November 14 to 17, the final was held, in which more than 200 veterans of the SVO from 62 regions of the Russian Federation took part. I would like such competitions to be held more often.

Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for everything, for the honor you have given us. We won't let you down.

Vladimir Putin: I have no doubt.

It's not about me, it's about the country that you serve and that you not only do not let down, but make it truly powerful, sovereign, and self-respecting. It's all thanks to you and your comrades-in-arms that this is happening. We will all do it together.

As for sports, this is one of the most important areas not only for rehabilitation after serious injuries, serious injuries, it is just a base for a normal life. We have a lot of people involved in sports, more and more, but, unfortunately, we did not fulfill the plans that we set for ourselves in terms of the number of people engaged in physical culture and sports on a permanent basis in the country.

And as for adaptive sports, Paralympic sports--especially for people who have been injured--they should feel full and maintain their physical activity, achieve results, which is the most important thing. You just understand better than anyone else.

That's why we held this competition in Ufa, and we held it in Sirius, as you just remembered, and we will definitely continue to do so. But I will talk to the Ministry of Sports, and I will definitely need to include all these competitions in a single calendar plan so that it is not at the amateur level, but at the state level. It is absolutely necessary to do this, and we will do it all over the country, all over the country. So there should be no doubt about it.

And I wish you every success. Judging by the way you look, you exercise regularly, right? Like what?

Reply: Prior to my injury, I was engaged in martial arts, sambo, hand-to-hand combat, boxing, and all other sports. After being injured, he retrained in weightlifting–-powerlifting, bench press.

Vladimir Putin: And how much do you "push"?

Remark: There was no quota for performing at the cup, but they gave me a chance to take part and test my strength. I took second place in the absolute, weighed 86 kilograms, lifted 150 [kilograms]. But I just started this year.

Vladimir Putin: I doubt that Ilya Muromets raised so much. Healthy was a hero, but to "sting" 150 - it is unlikely. I wish you every success!

This is absolutely one of the most important areas of work for the state, and at all levels: at the federal level, at the regional level, and, of course, at the level of the Ministry of Defense, we need to support this.

And through the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. I released Anna Yevgenyevna [Tsivileva] partially from the foundation to the Ministry of Defense only on the condition that she would continue to lead the work of the foundation. They organize it well, as far as I can imagine, including sports events.

(To A. Tsivileva.) Anna Yevgenyevna, I ask you to continue all this, both through the Ministry and the foundation.

Our Deputy Prime Minister oversees sports activities, we will definitely talk to Dmitry Nikolaevich [Chernyshenko], we will definitely support him – so that this work is not just one-time and "by the way". This should be a systematic work at the state level, at the Government level.

We will definitely do everything, guys, it will be like this.

Something else?

Question: I would like to raise a topic concerning participants of the special military operation who have disabilities and live in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Thanks to the fact that you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, pay special attention to the issues of people with disabilities, many opportunities are now being realized much faster. This is especially true for young and active guys, children who have received disabilities and need multifunctional and high-quality prostheses.

We all got prosthetics here, received high-quality, good prostheses. We also receive excellent rehabilitation care to this day. In fact, we were taught to walk again here.

Soon after the end of treatment and rehabilitation, we–-most of us live in the regions--will return home. Unfortunately, there is a problem in remote regions – the sphere of prosthetics and rehabilitation care is poorly developed. And it's no secret, everyone knows that dentures need to be changed over time. The physiological parameters of a person also change…

Vladimir Putin: They say they have been wearing it for three years?

Vladimir Spector: Two or three years.

Question: [It is necessary] to adjust the prostheses, repair them. Not many cities can provide such assistance to us. This is mostly well developed in Moscow.

Vladimir Putin: And you need to go here.

Question: Going here is a bit problematic. From all the above, I would like to ask a question: is it possible to make sure that not only in Moscow, but also in remote regions of the country there are such high-quality multifunctional prosthetics centers?

Vladimir Putin: There are currently 240 such companies, as Tatyana [Golikova] said, thousands of people work, and there are a lot of specialists. But not enough, they have already said here that they are sorely lacking. So let's do: a) a training program; and b) of course, we will replicate best practices across the country. Of course, you can't go to Moscow, although it is a good center, it is developed, there are more than 100 branches all over the country-105 or 107 branches.

But of course, this is not enough, clearly. We will definitely do it. I'll ask you then, Tatyana Alekseevna, to prepare a program.

Tatyana Golikova: Mr President, in addition to what you mentioned, we have 46 hospitals for complex prosthetics. Probably, now we need to focus on them from the point of view of the children's requirements and develop them further. 46 is available.

Vladimir Putin: I don't know much, I don't know anything at all. Someone told me from Sakhalin – how to get there, you know? Therefore, it is necessary to have more and wider territories.

Tatyana Golikova: All right.

Vladimir Putin: We need a program. Do this, present your vision of how it should be spatially distributed and created on the territory of the country, okay?

Will do.

What else, guys?

Question: Mr President, I don't really have a question. I would like to say very sincerely a huge thank you for the opportunity to get prosthetics and rehabilitation in the centers of this kind where we are located today.

I am one hundred percent sure that the construction and development of such centers is taking place on your initiative. Why am I talking about this? None of those present will allow you to lie, but many children, when they were admitted to the hospital after being injured, had no idea what would happen next, how rehabilitation and prosthetics would take place. When I personally learned about prosthetics and saw with my own eyes in this center, I was pleasantly surprised.

I would like to sincerely thank you very much for this. We won't let you down.

Vladimir Putin: And I want to tell you—you are sincere, and I am absolutely sincere to you: I want to thank you for your choice, I want to thank your parents for raising you.

You know, and I, and all of us–-we don't feel it. We live and live, and we just take an example-–it doesn't even matter what our parents tell us, we somehow take an example, tracing paper to a certain extent. Thank you to them for raising guys like you.

And to you–-for making such a choice, not being afraid to risk your life and health and go to the war zone, to the war, protecting the interests of our country and our, your children, future generations.

These are not empty words, this is not just some kind of rhetoric, it really is. You have already heard a thousand times when someone says from the outside: it is necessary to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. What is this? Destroy the country. How many times has this happened in our history? And there were always people who stood up for her. Now it's you. So thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

As I’ve commented before, the Outlaw US Empire’s Veterans Administration system is woeful as I learned first-hand through my Father-in-Law’s experience. He’d probably still be alive if the US system was of the same quality as the Russian. But as many US readers will know, much of the difference is cultural. We have this superficial thanks meted out to the military—thank you for your service—when that service did nothing to actually defend the nation but to destroy others. All military people take an oath when they sign their service contract, but few seem to ever think about what that actually means in practice. The most important part is knowing what the US Constitution says, which is what the military person swears to “uphold and defend,” not the politicians, and very few people know what the Constitution says, for if they did we wouldn’t have our current wars and unhealthy social conditions.

*
*
*
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!