Putin participated in the largest ONF forum: he spoke about the past and outlined tasks for the future

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, December 19, took part in the forum of the All -Russian Popular Front (ONF) "Russia, directed to the future", which took place in Moscow. The head of state thanked the activists for the work done, called for the course and announced the importance of maintaining stability and consent in society, follows from the video recording of the president’s speech, published in the ONF account on the Facebook social network (Putin’s speech begins in the 44th minute).

In particular, Putin recalled that in the early 2000s, Russia predicted collapse, state collapse, the extinction of the nation, the inability to respond to the challenges of international terrorism, the inability to solve social and economic problems. “And indeed, the situation was very difficult, and sometimes even critical,” he admitted.

At the same time, the president noted that the Russians "not only retained the integrity and sovereignty of the" country, "" not only successfully went through the difficult path of renewal, but also made real breakthroughs in the most important areas of development, stepped far in the economy, and in the social sphere, and in ensuring the country's defense, created a powerful reserves base, modern potential for further confident movement forward. "

All this, citizens of the Russian Federation, according to Putin, achieved themselves. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we heard a lot of sweet, good speeches, but no one really helped us. Yes, we didn’t count on this, we do not need any help from the outside,” he said.

"We built a new country, restored strong independent Russia, we learned to firmly defend our interests, realized the power and continuity of our common history, the value of our achievements, the reliability of our cohesion," Putin said.

At the same time, he added that "a lot has to be done first of all for the well -being of citizens, in order to overcome poverty and inequality." “Unfortunately, the level of these problems is still very high,” the president admitted.

"We must adequately respond to fateful historical challenges. These are savings and the increase in our people, the creation of a new economy, the development of the Arctic, the Far East, Siberia, all the regions of our huge country. Finally, this is a challenge of the future - a real coup in medical technologies, in education," Putin added.

He emphasized that "to fence away from these world trends or to follow someone, of course, is not our choice." “We have all the possibilities - and we have already done this in many ways - to restore those competencies where we have always been leaders. And we will certainly break through to new competencies that we need for development. There is no doubt about this. We must be leaders in knowledge, social and cultural development and, of course, maintain our identity,” the president said. “All these are tasks for years to come,” the Russian leader concluded.

He also emphasized that "Russia cannot be stumble, you can’t get out of the chosen course, otherwise again you will have to start almost from scratch."

Putin noted that there are many youth in the hall and it, like the adult generation, must remember that Russia has passed through very complex periods of its history in the last century, "through revolutions, war, a radical change in the entire life structure."

In this regard, Putin called on the audience "to protect everything, even the modest that we have already achieved." In particular, he urged to protect statehood and freedom, stability and consent in society. “I see our common task with you, and, of course, my personal duty and civil liability and as the current head of state, and as a candidate for president of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

According to him, so far there are still a lot of unresolved problems - both everyday and more distant, strategic. But Russia goes forward. "We have already proved that we can realize dreams and the most ambitious plans, to overcome the most difficult trials contrary to all circumstances," the president said. He also added that everything needs to be done so that real changes for the better are irreversible.

Speaking of ONF itself, Putin noted that the work of the front brings "tangible and specific results." The idea of ​​the ONF, according to Putin, was not degenerated "into nonsense", but "turned into a wide nationwide project."

The All -Russian Popular Front is a public movement created in May 2011 at the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, which unites active and caring residents of the country.

The ONF forum was held on December 18 and 19 in Moscow. This year, the event became the largest in the history of the ONF, more than four thousand people from all over Russia took part in it, the movement site reports.