LIVE: Vladimir Putin Holds Major Year-End News Conference - Russian Language

Hello.

So far we haven't really seen such readiness. Let me remind you how it all started. It all started with a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and with deception regarding a possible peaceful solution to all problems based on the results of the Minsk agreements. In 2022, when everything had already reached the edge, when the Ukrainian regime in Kyiv unleashed a war in the southeast of Ukraine, we just said, 'Listen, we are going to have to acknowledge these unrecognized republics. And it's better if you just give people the opportunity to live the way they want, without your coups, without Russophobia, and so on. Just get your troops out of there and that's it.' They didn't want to do it then either. And as a result of the negotiations in Istanbul, they initially agreed, almost initialed, and then refused, threw all these agreements in the trash. And now, in fact, they are abandoning the means to end this conflict peacefully. But still, you know, we see and feel and know about certain signals, including from the Kyiv regime, that they are ready to engage in some kind of dialogue. The only thing I want to say is that we have always talked about this too. We are ready and we want to end this conflict peacefully, based on the principles that I outlined in June last year at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and eliminating the root causes that led to this crisis.

I just listened to another report from the Chief of the General Staff. What I want to say is that, in general, immediately after our troops drove the enemy out of the Kursk land, the initiative, entirely and completely, the strategic initiative passed into the hands of the Russian armed forces. What does this mean? This means that our troops are advancing along the entire battle line of contact, somewhere at a faster pace, somewhere slower, but in all these directions the enemy is retreating. This is the most important thing. We started with this when we suggested that the Ukrainian regime remove their troops from the territory of those republics, the unrecognized ones, who don't want to live under this nationalist pressure. The Kyiv regime had been building a fortified area in the agglomeration of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka for almost 10 years. This is the main fortified area. Let's start with this. What's happening there? Just recently, quite recently, the Chief of the General Staff, the commander of the group, and the commander on the ground, the brigade commander who was with me in the office, reported on the capture of Seversk. This is an important settlement. And from here, opportunities for movement towards one of the main fortified areas, towards Slavyansk, are opening up. A little further south, our units are also working actively and effectively in the Yuzhno-Limansky direction. The troops are already in the city, fighting is going on inside, and I think that Krasny Liman will be captured in the very near future. 50% of the city is under our control, and the movement will continue further, a little further south towards Slavyansk. But this agglomeration includes the city of Konstantinovka. They are already there. More than 50% of the city is under our control. I have no doubt that the guys will take this populated area too. A very important event was the capture of the city of Krasnoarmeysk, because opportunities open up from there. The corresponding level of military leadership has yet to make a decision on which direction to move. But this is a very good springboard for further offensive operations. A little north, northeast of the city of Dimitrov, an important settlement, an important platform, is completely surrounded. Our troops, I think at this point in time, have taken 50% of the city under their control. The enemy did not receive the command and permission to lay down arms and tries to break out of the encirclement in small groups. Attempts are being made to return at least part of the city of Krasnoarmeysk, unsuccessfully. The enemy is suffering serious losses here and does not achieve success. Another one of our groups, the East group, is moving at a rapid pace in the Zaporizhzhia region and liberating one settlement after another. Now, you know, fighting is going on in the city of Gulyaipole. The city is divided into two parts by the river. The main part is on the right bank. Our guys crossed the river, overcame this water barrier, and entered the city. 50% of the city is under our control. But the entire group did not commit itself to fighting for this city. Part, and a significant part, of the group continues to move from east to west, freeing one settlement after another in the Zaporizhzhia region. And besides this, security zones are being created in the Sumy direction. The city of Volchansk in the Kharkiv region, as is known, has been under our control for several weeks now. We moved to the city of Kupyansk. There, our troops control the city, but for now they are not moving in a westerly direction because they have a very important task: to liquidate the group on the left bank of the Oskol River and capture another populated area. This is Kupyansk, essentially a junction station, a nodal one, but the group surrounded in this place is significant. This is 15 battalions, I already talked about this. 3,500 personnel also did not receive orders to lay down arms. They have practically no chances. They are in close proximity to our armed forces. But also after this, and this will certainly happen, our unit will finish this combat work and will also deploy in the western direction. Yes, I am sure, I am just confident that by the end of this year we will witness new successes of our armed forces, our fighters on the line of combat contact.

Well, you've probably seen and heard the reports of the Chief of the General Staff, the commander of the group, the corresponding army, and the commander of the brigade that fought there. By the way, I asked him then. I said, 'And now how do you assess the situation in Seversk? Do you reliably control the city?' He says, 'Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are already moving west. My team has moved half a mile or two in the western direction. And this movement continues.' But you probably also remember that part of our work related to the report about the capture of Seversk, when the assault group reported directly from the city of Seversk. And if you remember, at the end of the report I said, 'Guys, I ask you to hurry up and change position.' And just yesterday, after a meeting at the Ministry of Defense, after the board, we awarded our fighters who took part in the liberation of Seversk. After that, I came to work in the Kremlin and asked the commander of the assault squad to come over too. I just wanted to have a chat with him on current issues. I do that sometimes when there is such an opportunity. He arrived. At this time, we were holding a meeting to prepare for today's event with my colleagues. And he walked straight into the Security Council hall, where everyone was sitting. And I asked him, 'Listen, tell me, please, a few words, and all the colleagues here heard what the situation is now in Seversk and how it was.' And he started telling, well, he said a few words briefly on his feet. And when he came out, my colleagues told me, 'Listen, can we invite him to the direct line?' I said, 'Well, I don't know, you talk to him, whether he wants to waste time. He has a short vacation.' Well, they called him and he agreed. Here he is, Naran Alekseevich. Well, if you have a question, give him the microphone, please. Colleagues, let me just tell you about Naran. Please sit down. Am I right? Everything is exactly as it was. Now, if you have any questions about what is happening now in Seversk and how the combat work developed during its capture, please, you can ask him directly. It will be better. Colleagues, let us welcome our Hero of Russia, who is with us again today.

Naran is being modest. He started as a simple driver, and now he commands an assault company. He has more than 80 people under his command. And he is a Hero of the Russian Federation, deservedly so.

Can I ask the questions I asked Naran when he entered the Security Council hall? I asked, 'Naran, what was the most difficult part of capturing Seversk?'

I don't know. I don't follow this. He is an artist. And a talented one, I say without any irony. We know this from his films in the old days. So there is nothing unusual for me. Well, they say that the chair looks completely different now. But that's not the point. The stele is located somewhere away from the city itself, at a distance of approximately one kilometer. Well, why stand on the threshold? Come into the house if Kupyansk is under your control. Well, there were also some female bloggers who slipped through to this. Thank God nothing happened to them. The sky is just, you know, like in flies, in these drones, both from our side and from the Ukrainian side. But it's impossible to approach so easily. The time will come when the guys finish their combat work to destroy the encircled group on the north and east bank of the river, turn around and go towards the West. And it will happen soon enough. They will take everything. This is just a matter of time. There are no problems here. And as for all sorts of staged affairs or attempts to return lost positions at any cost, as is now being done in the Krasnoarmeysk area, it has no success. His problem is also that as a result of the active and effective actions of our troops, the enemy apparently suffered very serious losses in strategic reserves. There are practically none left. And this is a very important element that should, I hope, encourage the Ukrainian Kyiv regime to resolve all contentious issues and finish this conflict by peaceful means.

Well, you know, as usual at the Direct Line events, I brought this table with me. There is nothing here. Open data on what happened in the economy over the past year. GDP growth amounted to 1%. But if you take the last three years, and such a score is also quite correct, then the overall growth is 9.7%. At the same time, growth in the eurozone was 3.1%. As for the one percent growth in the rate of economic growth this year, these are deliberate actions on the part of the government, the Central Bank, and the entire leadership of the country, related to targeting inflation. And it should be noted that in general this problem can be solved, because the goal was to reduce inflation to at least 6%, but apparently by the end of the year it will be less than 6%, 5.7-5.8%. But the rate of economic growth has slowed — this is a conscious step, a fee for preserving the quality of the economy and macroeconomic indicators. What else is happening? Industrial production also increased by 1%. The processing industry by 3.1%. Agricultural production increased by 3.3%. In housing construction, an important issue, millions of square meters of total area. Last year it was 107.8. There will be a slight decline this year, but still, it's a good indicator: 103-105 million square meters. We manage to maintain a good rate of increase in real wages. And they are not as big as last year, but still, in my opinion, good real wages. That is, after deducting inflation, its growth will be 4.5%. Unfortunately, we must honestly admit that during the same period of time we have an increase in labor productivity of a modest 1.1%. This ratio, of course, needs to be changed in favor of improving labor productivity. The unemployment rate last year, we talked about it, is at a historically low level: it was 2.5%. This year it has become even lower, 2.2%. Overall, these are very good indicators. International reserves of the Central Bank are also growing. I was talking to Elvira Nabiullina literally yesterday. They amounted to 741.5 billion dollars just 2-3 days ago, if counted in dollar equivalent. The federal budget deficit is 2.6%, but next year we assume that it will already be 1.6%, and in three years it should be somewhere around no more than 1.5%. This is a good indicator, considering that we still have a very low national debt, one of the lowest among developed economies. Yesterday my colleagues and I were calculating, it is somewhere around 17.7% and should not rise above 20% in the next period. Well, these are probably the indicators. But what is important to note here? The most important thing is that we succeeded, and we must give credit where credit is due, the government did a great job. We managed to balance the budget. Moreover, the quality of this balancing is at the 2021 level. And this is a very important indicator of the stability of the economy and financial system of the country. This means that we will be able to fully resolve issues related to fulfilling social obligations to the population, addressing development issues within the framework of national projects, achieving technological development goals, and unconditionally ensuring the needs of the armed forces. All this together, I repeat once again, speaks of the economic and financial stability of the system, which is completely under the control of the government and the Central Bank.

Thank you. Thank you for remembering this. This is good news and pleasant for all participants of this process. What do I mean? This topic arose during a meeting of the Science Council under the President of Russia. We did this in Novosibirsk in 2018, I think. And then colleagues from the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Nuclear Physics, raised the question of the need to create SKIF here, this accelerator installation. Indeed, there were some delays related to sanctions, but we managed to finish this work. This is great. I want to congratulate everyone who is involved in the process and who will work with it in the future. This is definitely a success. This is the setup we have in Kurchatnik here in Moscow, but it's an old generation, a lot needs to be done, a lot needs to be changed. And this is planned. In parallel, the same system, the same equipment will be created in Vladivostok, and in other cities too, in Gatchina we have it and we will work in other places. As for SKIF, it is truly a great success. Why? Because it provides the opportunity not only to conduct fundamental research, but also applied research at the same time. And this is very important because it will allow work in the field of pharmaceuticals, new materials, and so on. But how to retain young professionals? We have developed a whole system, and overall it works. But the most important thing is to create social conditions for scientists. A person passionate about his work may find it more important than anything else. But other things are also important: the level of wages, housing security, the conditions in which a person lives. We will do all this gradually. An entire system of grants is aimed at this, including mega-grants. By the way, the so-called mega-grant recipients, highly qualified scientists, both ours and foreigners who worked within these mega-grants, raised the question at one of the meetings. They said that we need to create conditions for young specialists to stay. We need to create a horizon for them to see the research horizon, so that funding is not for six months, not for two, not for three, but for five years and so on. We did that too, and it helps retain personnel. Moreover, many people come back. I personally spoke with such specialists, young people who used to work abroad and are now returning to their homeland, to Russia. By the way, our Western colleagues are actively helping us with this. When asked why they returned, they say, first of all, the laboratory. We are worried about our children. Sending them to local schools, in our conviction, becomes impossible. Well, thank God, we have the protection of traditional values on our agenda. People assess this along with other circumstances and decide to return to their homeland. There are many of them, and it's getting bigger and bigger. We will continue to work in all these directions. I'll try to come. Thanks a lot.

You know, first of all, I suggest we remember the participants of the Great Patriotic War. The people who fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War returned and achieved outstanding results both in science and in art and education. You know, when I was at university, I was also taught by people who were former participants of the Great Patriotic War. We treated them with great respect. There were those who received serious injuries. There was a teacher who had no leg, he walked on a prosthesis, but he was a brilliant specialist in his field. We all remember him with gratitude. We remember the knowledge that he passed on to us. But let's remember Nikulin. How many people were there in the field of science who reached high heights and contributed to the development of our homeland? What is worse about our fighters and participants in the special military operation today? Here is Naran Alekseevich sitting. He is like, you know, I didn't even recognize him a little because the hall is big, the microphones, the cameras are working, people are experienced, you understand. And when he came into the hall of the State Council in the Kremlin, I asked him, 'Naran, tell me, please.' He reported there, and everyone sat with their eyes bulging. He behaves more modestly, but what am I getting at? The guys have very good, big potential. Of course, there were doubts from the very beginning that it's one thing to fight, but another thing to manage teams or lead entire industries, large companies, or even regions, ministries. A certain inclination is needed for this. But listen, we have hundreds of thousands of guys fighting there, and not all of them, by the way, strive for this kind of career in civilian life. Not everyone, but those who want it, have the potential, have education, experience, or are ready to receive it. The state must do everything to provide such opportunities to people who have proven that they are ready to fight for the interests of the homeland without sparing themselves. And so I think, I said, this idea came to my mind when I met young people, including students, and watched how they expressed their thoughts, what goals they set, what they define as promising for the country as a whole. Right during this conversation, this thought came into my head: 'Of course, such guys need to be gathered, helped, and moved forward.' They are not afraid to have the fate of the country transferred into their hands. Of course, you have to prepare them. And so this program was launched. I am grateful to the leaders of the regions of the Russian Federation for replicating this program at the regional level. So, you know, it works. I am very happy for the guys who passed the first stream, and the second stream is studying. Many of them have already become governors, deputy ministers, work in our largest companies. Several people work in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. They succeed in everything. It is clear that somewhere some difficulties arise, someone might struggle, but overall it works.

Yes. Stealing is not an appropriate definition, Pavel. Theft is the secret theft of property. And here they are trying to make it open. This is robbery. This is robbery. But why doesn't it work to carry out this robbery? Because the consequences could be severe for the robbers. And what does this consist of? First of all, it is not easy to do. They didn't announce that they will simply rob and take away, and one of the ideas is to issue a loan secured by our assets. But what is it to issue a loan? They have this, this has consequences for the budget of each country. This increases the budget debt of each country. But if someone gives out any loans, even secured by our international reserves, it should still be reflected in the budget of the country that does it. And, let's say, in the same France, the national debt is 120%. We have 17.7, and there it is 120. Yes. Our budget deficit is 2.6. Next year it will be 1.6, and in France 6%. Well, go ahead and enter these additional funds into the budget obligations now. I think the budget there goes quite difficultly. And that is the reason why making decisions related to the robbery of other people's money is not simple, but there are other more difficult consequences for those who try to do this. It is not just a blow to the image, it is a breach of trust, in this case, to the eurozone, because of course, their gold and foreign exchange reserves are in the eurozone. Many countries have free resources, not only Russia, but also those who have free resources. Well, first of all, of course, these are oil-producing countries. And so they will look at what is already happening, they are already watching it. Suspicions and doubts arise and concerns. Well, if this happens, you know, you just have to start, and then you can also replicate it under various pretexts. Now someone doesn't like the conduct of the special military operation and the fight against neo-Nazism in Ukraine, and then someone might not like, say, the policy in the area of the LGBT community. And in Muslim countries, in Islamic countries, there are many very strict laws to protect their traditional, well, essentially, our common traditional values. We don't have such laws, but there are some there. So here you have a pretext for seizure of sovereign funds, sovereign resources and money. And why not? There may be another subject, find another reason. Therefore, besides image losses, there can be direct losses associated with the fundamental foundations of the modern financial world order. That is why, and not just, and most importantly, no matter how they try to steal it, someday they will have to give it back. Well, and besides everything else, we will protect our interests. Well, first of all, in the courts. We will try to find such a jurisdiction which will be independent from political solutions.

Thank you very much for the invitation. As for the road, this is known. And this problem is known. We have really considered the transfer of all sections of this route to the federal level. And since the federation faces the task of bringing our federal highways up to known standards, this task is almost completed for federal highways. The emphasis is now on development and bringing to standard the condition of regional roads. There are several important questions here. This is northern delivery and road safety. Agreed. Well, I can't promise that they will start building tomorrow. You understand, all this needs to be considered, looked at in the development plans of the country's road network, the backbone road network of the country. We have such a concept too. I will definitely talk to the government and we will respond. We will definitely respond. Well, thanks for the invitation. Let's do some more. I would like the format, please, we are combined, we will have to share the territory.

Yes. I'll start with what you ended your question with. Of course, the veterans brigade deserves the highest marks. They are just heroic people, but not only. You know, it's not easy to take, risk your life and climb into a pipe. They are competent, meticulous, and prepared each of their operations in the most careful and responsible manner. This was a big preparatory work. Approaches, entrances, entry, exit, supply, well, that is just very highly professional work. Well done. And of course, heroes, obviously, it's a fact. And of course, this team deserves the highest marks and the rank of Guards. I agree with you. This is the first thing. And now about what you started with, about unmanned systems. Yes, it is known that there are not enough heavy drones yet. The Ministry of Defense is working on this and the industry. This task will also be solved. I would like to note the role of the Minister of Defense. He is personally involved in unmanned aerial vehicles and has done a lot for this. And thanks to him in part, the situation with unmanned aerial vehicles in our country has changed radically. And the guys on the combat line also celebrate this. I think you do too. You know this very well. We will continue to support our modern Kulibins. There is a whole system of grants and support, and we will continue to do so. I want to thank our people, by the way, our citizens, our entrepreneurs. In addition to everything, people collected 83 billion rubles, which were used for various purposes, but also to a significant extent on this unmanned aircraft. It must be said, and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. I think that in this regard we have become undisputed leaders in terms of the number of drones. Yes, there aren't enough heavy ones, as if the enemy had a clip, but in general, in terms of the number of drones, we are superior to the enemy now in almost all areas of the front. Maybe somewhere specific something is not enough, but overall it is an evident fact. Now, as for the civilian confirmation of this leadership, it can be confirmed only if what appears in force due to the need to use it in combat actions will have a continuation in the civilian sphere. And then from the civilian sphere, where it will develop, flow back into the area of increasing and strengthening the defense capability of the country. And such work, of course, will be established. It is already underway, but it will be continued. It means everything that we know very well, drone delivery, there is everything you could want there, mail, food, medicines, and whatever you like. And we are not only talking about drones of the airplane type or small copters, that is, so to speak, air-based, but we are talking about a drone in general, both at sea and on land. This direction is developing here, developing at a good pace, but it will certainly be supported in the future. Now, as for the guys who fought and want to continue fighting, you know, I want to share this with you. This is a special situation. What does it consist of? We continue to staff the armed forces, and it goes at a good pace and in a planned manner. We have many people who want to, our men, real men who come voluntarily and conclude contracts for service in the armed forces and voluntarily go to defend the interests of the homeland and the interests of the people. Now Naran was talking about this, how the listeners treat the civilian population. Now he didn't say, and then, when they were talking in the Kremlin, he said, 'We, when we looked at what they did to the civilian population, our hands are just itching. Yes, Naran said so, we are ready to move on and finish off this bastard.' You see, when they saw what was happening to the people, the civilian population, including grandmothers they shot and killed with copters, and so on. Well, he was being modest, a person feels shy in such an audience, this is probably the first time he's been in one. And I told you all this, so that we, according to the contract, in the past year there were over 400,000 people, 406 or 410,000. And the number of people who want to serve in a new, recently created form of troops, the branch of unmanned aircraft troops, is such that the Ministry of Defense is forced to announce a competition. And what's interesting is that there are some very young guys, young people, students of various universities that take academic leave in order to sign a contract and go to the front. Well, first of all, of course, we are talking about participation in military operations as a drone operator. I understand the person you spoke to. Well, I'll say this, even those who come on vacation sometimes, yes, they continue to take part in military operations. Modern technologies make this possible.

Kristina Sergeevna, well, first of all, I want to apologize to you. I want to apologize to you for such sluggishness of those services that must resolve issues in a timely manner. Sorry. I assure you, in your case it will be done and done quickly, but there really is a problem. I recently met with Anna Evgenievna Tsivileva, who is now also a Deputy Minister of Defense, and she reported to me about the work of the Defenders of the Fatherland fund. And she told me that, unfortunately, they still can't get normal interaction between the Ministry of Defense and the social block of the government. There are many questions related to excessive bureaucracy. Papers get lost, transferred from one department to another, decision-making is delayed, and so on. But we will definitely work on this, and I hope, I will take additional control of everything that is happening in this area. Everything is clear what needs to be done. We just need to do it faster, more efficiently, so that people don't experience additional complications, especially in your case, if you have two children. There is another problem, which is also mentioned here. And this problem is clearly evident from the questions that are received through different channels. And Dmitry Sergeevich gave me this large folder of these questions and requests. I looked at them. This is the search for the missing. This is an acute question. It is very important to say that in the case of Kristina Sergeevna, I hope the problems she faces will be resolved quickly and without any delays. But as for the missing, the question is especially acute. And it must be said that the Ministry of Defense has taken certain steps here, which do change the situation. What was done? They created a main, chief coordinating center for the search for missing fighters. First thing. Second, they created departments in groups and locally. A separate registry has been created to search for such persons. And if you look at the beginning of the year and at this point in time, the number of persons who were wanted decreased by 50%. Compared to the beginning of the year, changes by three times. Of course, this work should continue and improve, and we will definitely bring it to the point where losses are minimal, reduced to zero.

Well, such instructions have been given. And what's more, I just told you that in this direction, a lot is being done by the Ministry of Defense itself.

Yes, there is such data. The measures worked. Probably much more can and should be done in this direction. The number of crimes of this kind decreased by 7%, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports, and damage by 33%. That is, in general, the result is positive. But what I wanted to draw attention to and would like to appeal to the citizens of the country. Fraud hasn't gone anywhere. And as the use of various technical means in solving current everyday problems becomes more complex and increases, scammers will continue to improve their tools and make efforts to extort money. So, as soon as someone, whoever it may be, and in whatever voice the person speaks, taking into account the possibilities of artificial intelligence, this is especially dangerous. As soon as they start talking about money and some property, immediately put down the phone. Put it down immediately. No, it's not even worth it at all, not a single word needs to be said about this. If banks and so on, do you have someone there to talk to, there are people you know personally. The problem needs to be solved when visiting the bank. This is the best way. I never ask anyone to discuss any issues related to money and property.

Well, I didn't exactly say that I drive around Moscow myself and incognito. This also happens, but very rarely. I just said that sometimes I go without all kinds of traffic police escort and so on. It's more often like this. And these are not useless trips. It's interesting even to look through the car windows not only at the highway I drive on, there is a convenient residence to Moscow and back, but also when you visit different areas of Moscow, I'm also curious to see what is happening around. But as for obtaining reliable information about the events taking place, probably the best cross-section is given by a sociological event of this kind. Well, how many, 2 million, 2.5 million. Well, can you imagine, Maxim, 2.5 million people contacted the hotline. Of course, it is impossible during our work with you now to process all this and respond. But I mean that these 2.5 million requests are related to the pressing problems of people, and this will be processed, including with the help of artificial intelligence. My faithful assistants from the People's Front will work on this all year. This is the most powerful sociological means and condition of society, and those issues that people are worried about. This is the first thing. Secondly, well, of course, special services and law enforcement agencies provide various information directly. And I try to use it not in a generalized form, but exactly, as they say, in the originals. Meeting people, meetings with guys from the front directly, communication with them. If I get into some work collectives, in working groups when traveling around the country, direct communication with people is also very important. A spark immediately arises, you begin to feel the people's mood and their needs and requirements. And of course, sociological surveys must not be forgotten. I understand that people have different attitudes towards these social surveys. Well, you have to understand that this is mostly of a professional nature. And the average numbers sometimes irritate people because these average figures do not correspond in any way to what people face in real life. But nevertheless, they matter, they are important in order to understand what is generally happening in the country. These various different sources generally create a sufficiently objective picture of the events taking place.

Well, as far as supporting the peoples is concerned, we are pursuing a targeted policy of supporting the culture and languages of the peoples of Russia. And this is done in schools, in the media, in literature. But now you mentioned different directions of activity in Yakutia. The Yakut people are very talented, and it is no coincidence that this music school appears. I often remember my first trip, when I came to a music school like this, now it develops when little children were gathered from all, even small populated areas of the republic, and we were doing some creative work. And cinematography is also developing in Yakutia. Great. Yakutia is generally developing well, actively developing, but also sends us fighters to the front line, gives contact, such as search. So, all over the world, probably not. And the film you spoke about, of course we will support you, we will do everything for its distribution and so on. As for the year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia, I think we are doing the right thing, especially now in the context of the special military operation. Because when the country is faced with such trials, it unites. And you said it exactly, that is exactly how it is in fact. What difference does it make to people when they are sitting there under bullets? Naran understands and knows this perfectly well, right? What difference does it make which confession of faith? So, basically, you know how they joke in such cases, if God exists, then I have no doubt about it. Well, then he doesn't know that people on earth were divided into some churches. We have common values. That's the main thing. This is what unites us. Common values are traditional for all peoples of the Russian Federation. And this, in the current process during the special military operation, becomes especially important and convex, clear, and we see it clearly. I was remembering, we just now talked about, and now it came to mind, they talked about reports regarding the capture of the city of Seversk. So, the commander of one of the brigades was probably sitting in my office. When the reports ended, all video communication was turned off, well, I started talking to him about the situation in his area of responsibility at the front. And for some reason, everyday issues. And suddenly he says to me: 'You know, I feel so uncomfortable.' I say, 'What is it?' 'I am here, and here is my comrade, the commander of another such brigade that is fighting next to me, and he is there. We are talking with you about the possibility of solving some everyday issues, about state awards, but he is no worse than me, believe me.' I speak, 'And who is he?' 'Dagestani. He is a representative of a small people of Dagestan. He says: 'A true warrior, a patriot of Russia and an excellent commander.' I say: 'Listen, it's impossible for everyone to be here. You should be here now. So the commander of the group decided. He sent you, but someone has to be there and stay at the front. Well, come on, I say, do you know how we'll do it? Let's try to call him.' I went to the phone, picked up the SK phone and found this second brigade commander through military communications right at his combat command post. I talked to him and then handed the phone to the brigade commander who was in my office. And here's what's interesting, you know, this is common among men addressing each other. But when this sounds from the lips of real officers, military fighters, it sounds special. He picked up the phone and said, 'Hi, brother.' In a situation like this, it's worth a lot. Here in this, the unity of the peoples of the Russian Federation is revealed. And we will strengthen this, we will do everything for this process and its strengthening. And thank you for the question.