“We haven’t started anything seriously yet”

What did Putin say about the war at a meeting with State Duma deputies. As short as possible

After February 24, all branches of government needed to act decisively, in concert and quickly. The deputies confirmed their political viability and maturity, worked like real statesmen and patriots of Russia, forgetting any inter-party differences in difficult conditions. We have many parties, but there is only one Motherland, and there is nothing more important and higher than the fate of the Fatherland. The government introduced several packages of anti-sanctions measures, and the consequences of the actions of unfriendly Western countries were minimized. They tried to hit the Russian economy harder, to sow discord and confusion in society, but they miscalculated even here: nothing came of it. Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. Let them try. We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. It looks like everything is going to this. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people. Everyone should understand that, by and large, we have not started anything seriously yet. But we do not refuse peace negotiations. But the further, the more difficult it will be to negotiate with us. The course of history is inexorable. The attempts of the collective West to impose a new world order are doomed to failure. They must understand that they lost from the very beginning of our special operation - after all, its beginning also means the beginning of a cardinal breakdown of the American world order. We are told that we started a war in the Donbass, in Ukraine. No. It was unleashed by the collective West by organizing and supporting the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine in 2014. The collective West is the direct culprit of what is happening today.

This is an approximate retelling of Vladimir Putin's speech at a meeting with the heads of the State Duma factions. Quotes are not necessarily verbatim. The statements are based on reports from the websites of the Kremlin and the Interfax agency .

Cover photo: Mikhail Metzel / TASS