Ali Khamenei: Nuclear weapons sinful, West fears a developed and independent Iran (English subtitles)

By Sayed 7asan

In these extracts, Sayed Ali Khamenei reveals the real reasons behind the Western persecution against Iran on the nuclear issue. It is useful to recall them at a time when in spite of Netanyahu’s raving, a deal seems closer than ever, especially as Iran's voice is rarely heard.

The hostility to Iran is actually due to the fact that it is a sovereign country which, since the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini in 1979, refuses to submit to the political, economic and cultural hegemony of the United States and reached independently a very high level of development. The nuclear issue is just an excuse because a fatwa of Imam Khomeini categorically prohibits nuclear weapons, sometha ruling that no one could challenge in Iran. Imam Khomeini and later Imam Khamenei openly declared the American imperial superpower and its Trojan horse Israel as implacable enemies, and worked crucially against their influence in the Middle East. These are their unforgivable “crimes”.

Courtesy: khamenei.ir

Supreme Leader's Speech on the 19th Demise Anniversary of Imam Khomeini – March 6^th, 2008

Full speech: http://english.khamenei.ir/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=792&Itemid=4

[…] One of the reasons behind the enmity of the arrogant powers and the global plots against the Iranian nation regarding the nuclear energy and similar issues is our progress along with independence. As you can see, the Americans are pioneers and some Europeans follow suite in opposing the Iranian nation's right to achieving nuclear energy. They keep threatening and being insolent. Meanwhile, they sign nuclear contracts with other countries that are far behind the Iranian nation in terms of their scientific knowledge and industrial means. What could this mean?

It means that when nuclear energy causes a nation to become dependent on them, they consider it legitimate for the nation. They are opposed to that sort of nuclear energy that is gained through a nation's innovation and independently of their help.

Our dear youth and our great nation managed to achieve this advantage and this advanced industrial and scientific accomplishment by relying on their own capabilities. They did not bring about dependence. Rather they acted against dependence by doing so.

The sort of nuclear energy that is offered to other nations by arrogant powers is itself a cause of dependence. However, for the Iranian nation that manufactures creatively, nuclear energy prevents dependence. The global arrogance and the enemies of the Iranian nation are opposed to this. […]

Supreme Leader's Public Address on Eid al-Ghadir – June 16^th, 2009

Full speech: http://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=101228

[…] Iran is just looking for the nuclear knowledge it needs. If the Iranian nation does not obtain this knowledge today, it will be too late to obtain it tomorrow. It will be too late in the future, the future in which global economy will revolve around nuclear energy instead of oil. They want the Iranian nation to stand idle, waiting for others to help it in the future. The entire nuclear issue boils down to this [nuclear knowledge]. I have said this repeatedly before. Today we are working in order to obtain the nuclear knowledge we need so that our children, our youth, our future generations, and the great Iranian nation will not be forced to beg this knowledge from the west in the future.

Oil belongs to us. We extract it from our own oil reserves and export it to western countries. But westerners are bullying us even in the case of oil! Today western governments are making a greater profit than the oil exporting countries out of the oil that is extracted from the oil wells of this region! Today oil belongs to us, and we have control over it. Yet westerners are bullying us.

Just imagine what will happen to the countries that will try to get nuclear energy from westerners in the future. That is what the Islamic Republic is thinking about, so it insists that Iran should obtain this nuclear knowledge and technology.

But they cause uproar in the world and ask us why we are trying to achieve nuclear knowledge. They spread slander and mislead global public opinion, claiming that Iran is after a nuclear bomb. [Audience shouts : "Nuclear energy is our indisputable right."] Yes, Obviously. It is obvious that nuclear energy is an indisputable right of the Iranian nation. But the problem is that the global arrogant powers are using different kinds of machinations and propaganda techniques in order to deprive the Iranian nation from this indisputable right. […]

Supreme Leader’s Inaugural Speech at the 16th Non-Aligned Summit – August 30th, 2012  

Full speech: http://english.khamenei.ir/index.php?id=1668&option=com_content&task=view

[…] The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin. We proposed the idea of “Middle East free of nuclear weapons” and we are committed to it. This does not mean forgoing our right to peaceful use of nuclear power and production of nuclear fuel. On the basis of international laws, peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right of every country.  All should be able to employ this wholesome source of energy for various vital uses for the benefit of their country and people, without having to depend on others for exercising this right. Some Western countries, themselves possessing nuclear weapons and guilty of this illegal action, want to monopolize the production of nuclear fuel. Surreptitious moves are under way to consolidate a permanent monopoly over production and sale of nuclear fuel in centers carrying an international label but in fact within the control of a few Western countries.

A bitter irony of our era is that the U.S. government, which possesses the largest and deadliest stockpiles of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction and the only country guilty of its use, is today eager to carry the banner of opposition to nuclear proliferation. The U.S. and its Western allies have armed the usurper Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and created a major threat for this sensitive region. Yet the same deceitful group does not tolerate the peaceful use of nuclear energy by independent countries, and even opposes, with all its strength, the production of nuclear fuel for radiopharmaceuticals and other peaceful and humane purposes. Their pretext is fear of production of nuclear weapons. In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they themselves know that they are lying, but lies are sanctioned by the kind of politics that is completely devoid of the slightest trace of spirituality. One who makes nuclear threats in the 21st century and does not feel ashamed, will he feel ashamed of lying?

I stress that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons and that it will never give up the right of its people to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Our motto is: “Nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none.” We will insist on each of these two precepts, and we know that breaking the monopoly of certain Western countries on production of nuclear energy in the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is in the interest of all independent countries, including the members of the Non-Aligned Movement. […]

Speech delivered by the Leader of the Revolution in meeting with students on “National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogance”, March 11th, 2013

About the nuclear talks with the West

Full speech: http://english.khamenei.ir/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1837&Itemid=4

[…] We approve of the efforts that the honorable administration and the officials of the country are making. This is an important task and experience and it is most probably a valuable course of action. They can do this.

If they achieve results, then so much the better. But if they do not achieve results, this should mean that the country must stand on its own feet in order to solve its problems. […]

Ali Khamenei: Nuclear weapons sinful, West fears developed and independent Iran

Supreme Leader's Speech on the Occasion of the 19th Demise Anniversary of Imam Khomeini, March 6th, 2008

Translation: http://sayed7asan.blogspot.com

Transcript: 

[...] One of the reasons behind the enmity of the arrogant powers and the global plots against the Iranian nation regarding the nuclear energy and similar issues is our progress along with independence. As you can see, the Americans are pioneers and some Europeans follow suite in opposing the Iranian nation's right to achieving nuclear energy. They keep threatening and being insolent. Meanwhile, they sign nuclear contracts with other countries that are far behind the Iranian nation in terms of their scientific knowledge and industrial means. What could this mean?

It means that when nuclear energy causes a nation to become dependent on them, they consider it legitimate for the nation. They are opposed to that sort of nuclear energy that is gained through a nation's innovation and independently of their help. Our dear youth and our great nation managed to achieve this advantage and this advanced industrial and scientific accomplishment by relying on their own capabilities. They did not bring about dependence. Rather they acted against dependence by doing so. The sort of nuclear energy that is offered to other nations by arrogant powers is itself a cause of dependence. However, for the Iranian nation that manufactures creatively, nuclear energy prevents dependence. The global arrogance and the enemies of the Iranian nation are opposed to this. [...]

Supreme Leader's Public Address on Eid al-Ghadir, June 9th, 2009

[...] Iran is just looking for the nuclear knowledge it needs. If the Iranian nation does not obtain this knowledge today, it will be too late to obtain it tomorrow. It will be too late in the future, the future in which global economy will revolve around nuclear energy instead of oil. They want the Iranian nation to stand idle, waiting for others to help it in the future. The entire nuclear issue boils down to this [nuclear knowledge]. I have said this repeatedly before.

Today we are working in order to obtain the nuclear knowledge we need so that our children, our youth, our future generations, and the great Iranian nation will not be forced to beg this knowledge from the West in the future. Oil belongs to us. We extract it from our own oil reserves and export it to western countries. But westerners are bullying us even in the case of oil! Today Western governments are making a greater profit than the oil exporting countries out of the oil that is extracted from the oil wells of this region! Today oil belongs to us, and we have control over it. Yet westerners are bullying us.

Just imagine what will happen to the countries that will try to get nuclear energy from Westerners in the future. That is what the Islamic Republic is thinking about, so it insists that Iran should obtain this nuclear knowledge and technology. But they cause uproar in the world and ask us why we are trying to achieve nuclear knowledge. They spread slander and mislead global public opinion, claiming that Iran is after a nuclear bomb. 

"Nuclear energy is our indisputable right." Yes, Obviously. It is obvious that nuclear energy is an indisputable right of the Iranian nation. But the problem is that the global arrogant powers are using different kinds of machinations and propaganda techniques in order to deprive the Iranian nation from this indisputable right. [...]

Speech delivered by the Leader of the Revolution in meeting with students, March 11th, 2013

[...] We approve of the efforts that the honorable administration and the officials of the country are making. This is an important task and experience and it is most probably a valuable course of action. They can do this. If they achieve results, then so much the better. But if they do not achieve results, this should mean that the country must stand on its own feet in order to solve its problems. [...]

Vladimir Putin triumphs: «NATO supplies weapons to Kiev, defeated by Novorossia»

Press statement following Russian-Hungarian talks and answers to journalists’ question - February 17, 2015

Source: http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/23622

Transcript:

Question: Mr President, what is your assessment of the situation now that two days have passed since the Minsk agreement on a ceasefire took effect? Things do not seem to be going so smoothly, especially when you look at what is happening in Debaltsevo. There, at any rate, there is no ceasefire in place. 

Vladimir Putin: First of all, we place great importance on the agreements reached in Minsk. Perhaps not everyone has noticed this yet, but what is particularly important in these agreements is that the authorities in Kiev are essentially agreeing to carry out far-reaching constitutional reform in order to satisfy demands for independence – call it what you will, decentralisation, autonomy or federalisation – in different parts of the country. This is a very important and very significant decision on the part of Ukraine’s authorities.

But there is another side involved too, and if the Donbass region’s representatives have agreed to take part in this reform, this means that we are seeing some support for progress along this road of developing Ukraine’s statehood.

Of course, the quicker everything is done to end hostilities and withdraw military equipment, the quicker this will put in place the real conditions needed for a political settlement to really go ahead. 

As for military operations, I want to say that we have noted overall a substantial drop in activity. But let me note too that last time, when President Poroshenko decided to resume military operations and then stop them, it was not possible to do this immediately. What we do see now though is a clear and big decrease in the amount of shooting and exchange of hostilities along the entire battle line.

Yes, clashes are still taking place around Debaltsevo. But there too the scale and intensity of operations is less than it was before. What is happening there was not unexpected. According to our information, a group of Ukrainian troops were already surrounded there before the meeting in Minsk last week. I spoke about this at the meeting in Minsk. I said that the surrounded troops would try to break out of the encirclement and there would be attempts from the outside too to break through, and the militia, who had got the Ukrainian troops surrounded, would resist these attempts and try to keep the encirclement in place, and this would inevitably lead to further clashes. Another attempt to break through was made this morning, I don’t know what the media have been saying, I have not managed to follow all of the news, but I know that at ten o’clock this morning the Ukrainian armed forces made another attempt to break open the encirclement. It was unsuccessful in the end.

I hope very much that the people responsible in the Ukrainian government will not prevent Ukrainian servicemen from laying down their arms. If they cannot or will not take this important decision and give this order, they should at least not prosecute those who are ready to lay down their arms in order to save their own and others’ lives. At the same time, I hope that militia representatives and the authorities in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic will not detain these people and will not prevent them from freely leaving the conflict zone and encirclement and returning to their families. 

Question (translated from Russian): Mr President, from your words I understand that when the Minsk agreement was signed, and when you took part in the talks, you knew that the ceasefire would not take effect from exactly the moment planned. In other words, it was to be expected that some clashes would continue.

Do you think these clashes will end soon? Are you optimistic about the chances for a lasting ceasefire, or are you a pessimist, because if military clashes do intensify there, the United States could start supplying arms to Ukraine. How you would respond to this, what would Russia do?

Vladimir Putin: Concerning possible arms supplies to Ukraine, for a start, according to our information, arms supplies are already taking place. There is nothing so unusual about this situation.

Second, I firmly believe that no matter who and which type of weapons are involved, it is never a good thing to supply arms to a conflict zone, but in this particular case, no matter who sends them and what kind of arms are involved, the number of victims might rise of course, but the result would be the same as what we see today.

This would be inevitable because I believe that the vast majority of Ukrainian servicemen do not want to take part in a fratricidal war, even more so far from their own homes, and the Donbass militia has strong motivation to fight for and protect their families.

After all, let me remind you once again that what is happening now is linked to one thing only, namely, to the fact that the government in Kiev decided for a third time to resume military action and use the armed forces. This decision was first taken by Mr Turchinov, who issued the order to carry out what he called an antiterrorist operation. President Poroshenko then decided to resume the military operations, and now this is happening for the third time.

There will be no end to this if the people making the decisions do not realise that there is no hope of resolving the problem through military means. It can be settled only through peaceful means, only through reaching an agreement with this part of their country and guaranteeing these people’s lawful rights and interests.

Let me say that the agreement reached in Minsk offers an opportunity for this to happen. In this respect, I want to note the big role that the French President and the German Federal Chancellor played in reaching a compromise. I think that a compromise solution has been found and could be cemented by a resolution from the UN Security Council. Russia, as you know, has already put forward this initiative. If this happens, the Minsk Agreement would gain the status of international law. If not, it is already a good enough document that should be implemented in full. I am more of an optimist than a pessimist.

Let me say again that the situation is relatively quiet along the whole battle line now. We need to settle the problem of the group that has been surrounded. Our common task is to save the lives of the people trapped in this encirclement and ensure that this issue does not worsen relations between the authorities in Kiev and the Donbass militia.

It is never easy to lose of course and is always a misfortune for the losing side, especially when you lose to people who were yesterday working down in the mines or driving tractors. But life is life and it has to continue. I don’t think we should get too obsessed about these things.

As I said, we need to concentrate on resolving the main task, which is to save the lives of the people there now and enable them to return to their families, and we need to implement in full the plan agreed to in Minsk. I am sure that this is possible. There is no other road to take.

Hassan Nasrallah: Repression in Bahrain is comparable to Israel's

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, on January 9, 2015, on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet.

Translation: http://sayed7asan.blogspot.fr/

Transcript:

[...] Regarding this point I want to say to our people, especially in the border villages and Lebanese people, in confronting this danger, the Lebanese are not incapable or weak and they don’t need anybody's help. With our strength, army, people and resistance, just like we defeated the Israelis we will defeat the takfiris and anyone who thinks about harming the Lebanese and their dignity. Let us be at peace knowing that despite the snow and martyrs and burdens, nothing of this can change anything regarding the will and determination of all of us, especially the Freedom Fighters, when it comes to defending the people and its security and they did this and are ready to continue assuming this position till the end.

I call on everyone not to take part in this intimidation and intimidate people, nobody can guarantee that no operation will take place here or there. This can happen in any country, whether France, Britain or Europe, all these countries are now in a state of emergency  but this talk about a large scale military operation...

People haven’t been killed and this country is full of men and strong women there is no problem in this regard. God willing in confronting  one of the biggest and strongest army in the world we were able to persevere and achieve victory, so what can we say regarding these terrorists ?

The final words I want to say - I don't want to take up to much of your time - of course the issue of the region are extensive and importan..

The developments in Palestine, very dangerous developments in Palestine regarding the Palestinian people and al Quds and al Aqsa mosque

Or the Gaza strip or the prisoners or the surrounding areas, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and other situations in these regions and the world.

I don’t have time to discuss the regional situations but I will have an interview in the next few days where I will speak more extensively. Who ever would like to listen will listen....

In the remaining minutes I find myself obliged to focus on the issue of Bahrain.

In the past few days the Bahraini authority arrested the secretary general of al Wifaq, Sheikh Ali Salman, may God preserve him.

This was dangerous and the continuation of his arrest is also dangerous. In terms of its significance with regards to what can be said in condemnation we can't say enough

But there is something we should focus on is that the Bahraini authorities have reached a dead end despite their efforts the past years.

The people of Bahrain who are demanding their legitimate rights and these rights cannot be debated

One of the most basic rights when everybody talks about democracy is that they have an elected parliament, and that the parliament that puts laws is elected

Having a parliament and then at the same time others, so you appoint a government to participate in drafting the laws of the political process.

What are these people demanding? They are saying we want an elected parliament which enjoys complete power

Number two, these people from day one have chosen peace in their movement, a peace movement

This distinguishes today, someone was speaking about Bahrain, but what about here or there

We’re talking about a country, in this country, its people from day one said, these are our natural logical rights, not just this, but of others, , but this is one of the most important right

And they chose a peaceful manner, they opened fire on them, but they didn’t return fire, they were killed on the street, but they didn’t respond by killing

It’s just not that they didn’t use weapons, or explosives or they didn’t bring in fighters or groups from the outside, even a knife , they didn’t use a knife

And they insist on the peaceful nature of this movement, and this is what further cornered the Bahraini authorities

The leadership of the opposition, the clerical leadership and the political leadership all agree on the peaceful nature of the movement.

First and foremost Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem May God preserve him and first and foremost, Al-Wefaq Association led by Sheikh Ali Salman may God preserve him

We the Lebanese know that peaceful movements, abiding by the peaceful nature is very difficult, when someone is struck or when fire is opened he takes up arms and begins to open fire

If he has arms and if he doesn’t have arms, he goes and buys arms and begins to think day or night about those weapons

But these people, their house are attacked, their family are attacked, their clerics are in prison, their religious symbols are in prison, women, you know what happens in prison

They were killed on the streets, but they didn’t resort to any form of violence, they continued to insist on protests and speeches and the peaceful means,

There are maybe certain means which can be described as non-peaceful and violent but they didn’t resort to those means.

The Bahraini authorities always spoke about dialogue only as a way of talking not within a serious dialogue

But this opposition has always been ready for dialogue, the nature of its movement, the nature of its peaceful goals, in agreement with it reaching dialogue

But the authority always ran away from dialogue and the result of dialogue.

The Bahraini authorities in the last two years, what did they hope for, they hoped that in the end people would get tired

They protested first day, second day, first month, first year, second year, third year… We in Lebanon, we get tired from protests in two or three months

It’s enough, these protests don’t lead us anywhere, but we have people who have been protesting for years and for four years they have been striking,

And for four years they have been carrying out peaceful movements, this is a distinguished movement in this world.

I all different places the movement derailed and became violent very quickly, in this place the movement did not become violent

Not because there are no men in Bahrain, there are men in Bahrain, the people of Bahrain are known for their courage and for their enthusiasm. This is their history.

Not because no one can use weapons in Bahrain - here let me say because Al-Khalifa family can’t put me in prison - not because no one can use weapons in Bahrain

Not because nobody can send arms to Bahrain or because there is no one can send fighters to Bahrain

Bahrain is just like any other country in the world, any country whatever be the measures weapons can be sent, fighters can be sent, anyone can sabotage it

Small groups can sabotage a country. The main issue is that the will of the clerics and the political leadership and the people of Bahrain they are insisting on the peaceful dialogue

They hoped that they would get tired, they would just lose their interest, the government even abandoned the international community

Those who supported the Arab Spring when they get to Bahrain they stopped, they described the situation as unjust, they described them as sectarian, however it’s not sectarian,

I don’t have the time to speak about the issue of Bahrain and what the people are subject to, I didn’t want to use this term but I will just this one time.

Tthey have a project similar to the Zionist project, they have settlement activity in Bahrain, they have naturalization, whereby people come from all over the world

They are given citizenship, they are given jobs, they are given high salaries, security, respect, dignity

At the same time the original sons and citizens, the Bahrainis, whose fathers and grandfathers have been in that country, they are not given their basic rights,

When they make political demands, their nationalities are taken away from them or imprisoned and efforts are being made day and night to change identities of the Bahraini people

There will come a day where the people of Bahrain are not of the original Bahraini people, it will be another nationality.

Just as what the Zionists are doing in Palestine, whereby they want the day to come where the real inhabitants of Palestine will be the Jews all over the world, isn’t this injustice?

These people are continued with dialogue despite all of the betrayal so the Bahraini authorities found that the people didn’t get tired, they didn’t give up

In the end the people will call on the leaders, on the clerics, we protested on the first, second, third and fourth year, okay, where have we reached?

In the end, the political leaders say okay, but despite that the political leadership and the clerics insist on continuing on this path

I take responsibility for what I say, I want my colleagues in Bahrain to listen, this is my opinion and stance on the issue

The Bahraini leadership have hoped that the Bahraini youth would be pushed towards carrying out violence, by their oppressive acts

Its in the interest of the Bahraini leadership for people to resort to violence because when the opposition is accused of carrying out acts of violence

Then the leadership will come and speak about national security and will strike the opposition and its leadership and crush it, and therefore put an end to this opposition

The Bahraini leadership from the past four years tried to push the opposition in Bahrain towards an armed confrontation and it failed and once again

Again I repeat one of the most important reasons behind the peaceful nature of this movement is its culture and leadership.

Even if we have a leadership, the people have a different approach, the people have a different culture, a culture of quickly going to wars and fighting

What can the leadership do in this case, bring about miracles, but the culture and leadership of this people allowed their peaceful nature to continue

How do we understand the arrest of Sheikh Ali Salman because he is one of the religious symbols of the peaceful movement which insists on the peaceful nature

And we might witness and this something which everyone must pay attention to, all of the leaders who went to and insist on peaceful movement are being taken to prison,

To strike the peaceful movement and to crack the movement in general, what was the accusation made against Sheikh Ali Salman it was inciting for the committing acts o violence

Now if someone wants to make an accusation, make an accusation which is appropriate, which could be true, All Bahrainis know Sheikh Ali Salman

He is peaceful, peaceful till one loses their breath, even one accompanies with his peaceful movement, you’re too peaceful.

This Sheikh, what is he accused of is that he incites people to resort to violence. Why? For the sake of toppling the regime

Although you know the opposition, there is a debate, some people support toppling the regime, the Al Khalifa family and some in the opposition hold the stance of reform

An elected parliament, a government which is elected, as we hear from the opposition Sheikh Ali belongs to the second group

He didn’t speak about toppling the regime, nor did he incite to commit violence, this is an allegation which is a lie

What the government of Bahrain will discover to what it is doing is an act of stupidity

It will not be able to put a stop to this movement whether it be arresting and imprisoning the former clerics and leaders leaders nor by arresting or imprisoning Sheikh Ali Salman

If they are able to arrest all of the Bahraini people, it’ll put a stop to the movements in the street, but they won’t be able to stop the movement in the prisons

People insist on continuing with movements behind bars and they also insist on the peaceful nature

And I today express my solidarity and our support and from day one we stood in support of this peaceful popular movement and its logical goals and its civil manner

We call for solidarity and explaining the significance, the meaning we call for pressures to be exerted on this tyrannical and oppressive government

In order for it to give them their rights, to the people to release all of the prisoners, first and foremost Sheikh Ali Salman

On the other hand I stress and I support and we all support the call made by Sheikh Ali Salman from prison to insist on the peaceful nature

We must bear in mind that the Bahraini leadership wants by this arrest, by the former arrestswants to wish the Bahraini people violence and armed confrontation

This doesn’t serve the interests of Bahrain nor the people of Bahrain. Look at the countries of the region, look at all of them

When they resorted to arms in those countries, what was the result? What could be the result in any country?

Anyway I wanted to talk about this issue on this occasion and we pray to God that next year our nation is able to come out and pass these tests successfully

And it’s able tot confront these challenges by achieving true victory and the nation is able to overcome these difficult phases by unity by vigilance, by wisdom

By taking responsibility and also by overthrowing all of these plans and conspiracies from within the nation and from outside, which could have pushed the nation into abyss.

God bless you all, happy anniversary and peace, blessings and mercy be upon you all.

Vladimir Putin: NATO legions are already fighting in Ukraine

Meeting with students at the Mining University

January 26, 2015, St Petersburg

Source: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/47519

Transcript:

[...] Question: Mr President, Donetsk National Technical University has been the Mining University’s partner for many years now. We have friends there, students who are taking part in our annual international forum and competition, Problems of Mineral Resource Use. Sadly, because of the events in Ukraine, they have hardly been able to study of late. 

Vladimir Putin: Classes have stopped there?

Response: When there is bombing, the classes get cancelled, then they start again, but there is not really any proper teaching process going on there at the moment. The students in Donetsk place their hopes on your personal help and we and the Donetsk students all want to thank you for the great attention you have been giving these matters. Would you be able to help the students in Donetsk? Perhaps it’s possible to do something. 

Vladimir Putin: This is a very painful issue you have brought up here, one that concerns the serious and tragic events in Ukraine. Essentially, a civil war is underway there. I think that many in Ukraine understand this very well now.

Regrettably, the government in Kiev has refused to take the road of a peaceful settlement and does not want to resolve the problem through political means. First they used the law enforcement agencies, then the security services, and then the army. Later, when they ran up against resistance, they suspended military operations, but sadly, they only used the temporary peace to regroup and then start their operations again. They are pursuing these operations again now. Thousands of people have already been killed. This is certainly a real tragedy. 

We often speak of the ‘Ukrainian army’, but who is doing the fighting there in reality? Yes, in part it is official armed forces units, but a substantial part of those doing the fighting come from the so-called volunteer nationalist battalions. Essentially, this is not an army but is a foreign legion, in this particular case, a NATO foreign legion, which is not pursuing Ukraine’s national interests of course. They have completely different goals, related to achieving their geopolitical aim of containing Russia, and this is absolutely not in the Ukrainian people’s national interests.

Unfortunately though, we have the situation we see before us now. We need to help the people there. Incidentally, many people are trying to get out of being called up for duty. Some are trying to come here to Russia and wait things out a while here, and they are right to do this because there, they are simply being sent as cannon fodder to face the bullets. The problem is though, that under the new law, Ukrainian citizens cannot spend more than 30 days at a time in Russia. So they go back home and get caught and sent off again to face the bullets. We will therefore probably make some changes. Within the law’s provisions, we could increase the amount of time certain categories of people, above all people of conscript age, can stay in Russia.

Regarding your question, of course we need to help the students. We would have to ask the rector about the possibilities, but you could make use of distance learning technology, invite them here for internships, and simply come up with a support system for them.

Vladimir Litvinenko: We would be able to take up to 1,000 students here for six months or a year at least, but there would be issues to sort out with the Ministry and the Government, so close coordination would be needed.

Vladimir Putin: I will definitely talk to them.

Vladimir Litvinenko: I know that the South Russian State Polytechnic University in Novocherkassk could take students and has the needed dormitory facilities and so forth. We could take them at least temporarily.

Vladimir Putin: Last year, we allocated… (Addressing Presidential Aide Andrei Fursenko) How many places in our universities did we allocate to students from Ukraine last year? We allocated additional budget-subsidised places in 18 Russian universities. Your partners from the Donetsk institute could of course get support from your university, one of our country’s top universities. Let’s think about how to go about it. We do need to help the students. [...]