🎙 In conclusion of his working visit to Astana, Russia's President Vladimir Putin answered questions from representatives of Russian media (July 4, 2024)

Key talking points:

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (#SCO) started to gain traction and definitely became more necessary in today’s world, because it is clearly an independent centre of the new multipolar world. This is the feature that attracted the organisation members and those who wanted to maintain close contacts with it at various levels

• The Taliban controls the country [Afghanistan]. In this sense, the Taliban are, of course, our allies in countering terrorism, because any authority in power is interested in its own stability and the stability of the country it leads.

• We take seriously enough the things that Mr Trump is saying as a presidential candidate about his readiness and wish to stop the war in Ukraine. Naturally, I do not know his possible proposals as to how he is going to do it – and this is, of course, the key question. However, I have no doubt that he is saying it sincerely, and we support it.

• We cannot allow the adversary to take advantage of this ceasefire to improve its positions, rearm itself, fill up its army through forced mobilization, and get prepared to continue the armed conflict. We must ensure that the opposing side agrees to take steps that would be irreversible and acceptable to the Russian Federation.

❗️ We have always been in favour of negotiations, as you know. We never rejected them. The problem is that I consider it improbable that the conflict can be settled through mediators alone, above all because a mediator will not be authorised to sign any final documents.

⚡️ If US-made medium-range and shorter-range missiles appear in some place, we reserve the right to respond tit-for-tat.

• The US has indeed destroyed the fundamental documents that underpinned international stability and security. We did not withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which was a cornerstone, or the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or the #CTBT. <...> All of this was done by the US.

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Putin on negotiations with the Prime Minister of Hungary:

“Very intense negotiations with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Mr. Orban, have just ended. The important thing is that in the current difficult geopolitical situation we continue the dialogue. As in many previous meetings, we had a truly useful, frank conversation - both on current aspects of bilateral cooperation and, naturally, on pressing issues on the international and regional agenda, including, of course, the situation around Ukraine.”

Putin:

“A thorough and direct exchange of views took place on current international issues, including the Ukrainian conflict. They also talked about possible ways to resolve it. Mr. Prime Minister spoke about his recent meetings in Kiev, where he made a number of proposals, including a proposal to cease fire in order to create conditions for the start of negotiations with Russia. As for Russia, I have said more than once that we remain open to a political and diplomatic settlement. However, on the other hand, we hear about the reluctance to resolve issues in exactly this way. And Ukraine’s sponsors are trying to continue to use this country as a battering ram, a victim in the confrontation with Russia.”

Putin:

“The state of affairs, including taking into account what I heard today from Mr. Prime Minister - in Kiev they are still not ready to abandon the idea of ​​waging war to a victorious end. In my opinion, the Kiev regime does not allow the very idea of ​​cessation of hostilities also because in this case the pretext for extending martial law disappears. And if martial law has to be lifted, that means elections will have to be held, which never took place on time for the presidential elections. But the chances of winning them for Ukrainian rulers who have lost their ratings and legitimacy are close to zero.”

Orban on the importance of negotiations with Russia and topics of conversation with Putin:

“Over the past two and a half years, we have realized that without diplomacy and without communication channels we will not achieve peace. Peace will not come on its own, you need to work for it. It was precisely the ways to achieve peace that I discussed with Mr. President today: I wanted to find out which path is the shortest to ending the war. I wanted to hear - and heard - the opinion of Mr. President on three important issues: what he thinks about the peace initiatives currently available, what he also thinks about the ceasefire, in what sequence they can be carried out, and the third thing that interested me was this vision Europe after the war.”

Bundestag Member Sevim Dagdelen:

“Orban goes to Kiev and Moscow to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. This is good! It is criminal that Scholz and Baerbock prefer to stay at home. To paraphrase Helmut Schmidt, we can say: "It is better to negotiate for 100 hours about nothing than to shoot for one minute."”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó on criticism of Orban’s visit by the EU leadership:

“We are a sovereign country, so I don’t think we should pay attention to this kind of criticism. Don't confuse pro-war politicians with people in Europe.”

BBC correspondent in Moscow Steve Rosenberg asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to assess the results of the elections in Great Britain.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made his first public appearance since the assassination attempt.

Fico on his desire to go to Moscow:

“Among other things, we are criticized for the fact that we have a clear opinion on the need for a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian conflict. By the way, excuse my frankness, but I want to express my admiration for Viktor Orban for not having any doubts and going to both Kiev and Moscow. If my health allowed it, I would gladly join him.”

“Orban: NATO’s goal is peace, not endless war” - Newsweek

The Hungarian Prime Minister is convinced that NATO will collapse if it launches its operation in Ukraine.

“NATO’s preparations for an operation in Ukraine contradict the defensive nature of the organization and threaten it with suicide,” noted Hungarian Prime Minister Orban. NATO is approaching a turning point. Today, the agenda is not peace, but war; instead of defense, there is an offensive. All of this is contrary to NATO's core values. The more NATO leaders believe that conflict is inevitable, the greater their role in precipitating it. This is now becoming increasingly clear with news that preparations have begun for a possible NATO operation in Ukraine, and even high-level reports that NATO troops are already close to the Ukrainian front.”

What hopes do ordinary English people have for the new government?

“I don't give a damn. Why not? All the promises they make... any power... Everything they bully there right and left is complete bullshit. Wind-blown urine, to me. You know, to be honest, I just don’t understand what their policy is, what they proclaim there. Because not a damn thing changes. Do you know what I mean? No, bro, I'm serious. Well, okay, you’ll put another cocksucker in power. The fucker is beaming from ear to ear when he won the election. What a fucking good guy! And six months will pass, and where are we? That's right, screwed again! I'm telling you seriously, bro, honestly. All these elections are a joke, just laughable. You've probably seen artificial intelligence. So give him power, damn it! Let him rule!”

"The sharpest boy" contest prize surely goes to this guy.

Lavrov on the response to the shelling of Russian regions by American missiles:

“For any technically literate person who understands military affairs, it is clear that without the direct participation of the United States in the purpose of guidance, preparing data from satellites, these missiles would not have flown anywhere. So this is a known fact. They continue to say that “we are in no way at war with Russia.” This is generally a bad face for a bad game. And they understand this perfectly. The President said that we will respond, and I am confident that in the foreseeable future you will know about it.”