"Those who came showed personal courage"

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the media on May 9 following talks with foreign leaders. Today, he met with Chairman of the Government of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico, Supreme Ruler of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim, President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Thonglong Sisulit, leader of the Republika Srpska Sinisha Karan, President of Abkhazia Badra Gunba, as well as the head of South Ossetia Alan Gagloev. The day before, he held talks with the Presidents of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The main statements of the Russian leader from the briefing are in the Izvestia material.

About the three-day truce and the Victory Day Parade

As for the provocation, you saw that I am here. The Ministry of Defense has not reported anything to me yet. I can't say anything about that. I'll go back to my workplace now, the military will report to me there.

Regarding the Parade, we decided that this year it is not an anniversary, but nevertheless, it is Victory Day. We decided that we would definitely hold festive events, but without demonstrating military equipment. Not only for security reasons, but above all because the armed forces must focus their attention on the final defeat of the enemy as part of a special military operation.

As for the provocative statements, yes, these decisions were certainly made much earlier. As you know, the Ministry of Defense has made a definite statement that in the event of an attempt to disrupt our festive events, we will be forced to launch massive missile strikes against the center of Kiev. This was supposed to be a response, but we did not stop there, followed by a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is already a document, not just a statement, but we haven't finished with that either.

We started working with our main partners and friends, first of all with our friends from the People's Republic of China, India, and some other countries, including the US administration.

We have outlined to our colleagues and partners the picture that may develop. We have no desire to aggravate or worsen relations with anyone, and this could happen. I mean, all the control and decision-making centers in Kiev are located in close proximity to the diplomatic institutions of a number of countries. There are several dozen of them.

About the prisoner exchange

When we started such a dialogue with the US administration, we warned them about this, pointed out the possible consequences and asked them to do everything necessary to ensure the security of their country's diplomatic mission. As a result of all these discussions, the initiative of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for an additional two days of truce and exchange of prisoners of war in these two days arose. We immediately agreed with this, especially since, in my opinion, this is a justified proposal and dictated by considerations of respect for our common victory over Nazism. And it clearly has a pronounced humanitarian character.

In a few days, on May 5, we handed over the exchange offer to the Ukrainian side and sent to Ukraine a list of 500 Ukrainian servicemen stationed in Russia. Initially, the reaction was that you need to take a closer look. Maybe not all 500, maybe 200, and then they went off the radar altogether and said bluntly that they were not ready for this exchange. Therefore, when the proposal of US President Trump was made, we, of course, immediately supported it quietly. We hope that in this case, the Ukrainian side will respond to Trump's proposal. Unfortunately, we have not received any proposals so far.

About bilateral meetings and Victory Day

As for the bilateral meetings and what was the main thing in these negotiations. The main event was the one that is in the center of attention of both Russia and all friendly countries, as we say, the countries whose representatives came to Moscow for the celebrations. The discussion focused on Victory Day, our common result in the fight against Nazism, and a conversation about how to ensure that the memory of the heroes of World War II and World War II would be preserved and would serve as a basic basis for ensuring that nothing like this happens again in the future.

Of course, we also talked about bilateral relations. Of course, our relations with our closest allies and partners, such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, come to the fore here. We have over $50 billion in trade with Belarus, with a population of just over 10 million people. Can you imagine what a turnaround? There's a lot to talk about, and a lot of questions really. It's the same with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which are fast—growing economies. We have good plans, including investment ones, with Kazakhstan. There are also common interests within the EAEU.

Well, for other countries that I meet with. For example, Laos is also an important partner for us. The volumes there are very modest in dollar terms, but the prospects are good, and the country is well located — this is an important Asian region for us. Therefore, there was something to talk about in each case, and everything was very substantive and pragmatic.

About relations with Armenia

As for the plans of Armenia and the Armenian leadership. You know, we didn't invite anyone to these events. This is not an anniversary event, but information has been sent to everyone that we would be glad if someone would come. We don't forbid anyone to come. There was no official invitation.

Therefore, not only Armenia, but also many other countries, our good neighbors, good partners and friends, were not here today. I don't see anything unusual here. Although those who arrived certainly showed personal courage to a certain extent, because they became aware of certain agreements, including those initiated by President Trump, on extending the truce days, on exchanges, and so on, only after they arrived. And without knowing about it, they nevertheless decided to be here. This deserves special respect.

But, I repeat, we don't see anything special about someone not being there.

On Armenia's accession to the European Union

But as for Armenia's plans to join the European Union, this, of course, requires special consideration. We have discussed this with Prime Minister Pashinyan more than once. And we don't really see anything special here. He will confirm that I have already told him several times and now I can repeat publicly that we will support everything that benefits the Armenian people.

We have had a special relationship with the Armenian people for centuries. And if the Armenian people benefit from this or that decision, please, we will not object. But, of course, we must keep in mind some circumstances that are important both for us and for our partners.

What does this mean? For example, our trade turnover with Armenia has decreased now. Last year and the year before, it was much higher, but still, by the end of 2025, it was $7 billion. If we keep in mind that the country's GDP is $29 billion, then this is a serious amount.

Armenia receives significant advantages within the framework of the EAEU. This applies to agriculture, the processing industry, customs and other fees, and so on. This also applies to the migration sector.

And, in my opinion, it would be right, both in relation to the citizens of Armenia and in relation to us as the main economic partner, to decide as early as possible. For example, to hold a referendum. It's none of our business, but, in principle, it would be quite logical to ask the citizens of Armenia what their choice would be. And in accordance with this, we would have drawn the appropriate conclusions and followed the path of a gentle, intelligent and mutually beneficial divorce.

About Ukraine and the lessons of European integration

After all, you understand that we are currently experiencing everything that is happening in the Ukrainian direction. And how did it start? Since Ukraine joined or attempted to join the EU. This was only the first stage.

We had already started discussing this with the Europeans. We told them: listen, phytosanitary standards are absolutely different in your countries, in the European Union and in Russia. By the way, we have much stricter phytosanitary standards. And it is impossible for your products to enter the Russian market through Ukrainian territory. We can't let that happen.

And at that time we had a free trade zone with Ukraine, free borders. We will have to close. The same applies to a number of industrial products.

To be honest, I was surprised by such a tough and straightforward position on the part of the Europeans. We stood up hard: no, no, and no on any issue.

In the end, then-President Yanukovych read everything more carefully, figured it out and said: "No, I'm probably not ready for this yet, because there was too much damage to the Ukrainian economy." After all, he did not refuse to join. He said: "I have to come back to this again, analyze everything." But all this later led to a coup d'etat, to the Crimean story, to the position of the south-east of Ukraine and to the fighting.

That's what it's all led to. This is a serious issue, so don't push it to the extreme. We just need to say in a timely manner that we will do this and that. There is nothing special here — you need to calculate everything. And the Armenian side needs to count, and we need to count.

I am answering now and I think: it would be quite possible to raise this issue at the next EAEU summit.

On the struggle with the USA against Nazism

During the last telephone conversation with US President Trump, we had a conversation about May 9th. And, by the way, he spoke about it very worthily, in my opinion. He recalled our alliance in the common struggle against Nazism. I told him that I plan to declare a truce on the 8th and 9th. Why 8? Because in the West it's the 8th, and now Ukraine, in my opinion, is also considered Victory Day on the 8th, but it doesn't matter. The important thing is that President Trump actively supported this, and we announced it literally a day later. But as soon as we announced it, there was no reaction from anyone.

A few days later, when Kiev apparently thought about it, realized that it was supported by the US administration, they considered it a blessing to react to it. But they probably considered it unprofitable to simply accept our proposal. And so they came up with another proposal for a truce starting on the 6th.

About Victory Day

For us, for Russia, May 9th is not a comedy show with keyboard playing. This is a holy day for us, because every family has suffered.

If we calculate that 2.7 million victims suffered by the Soviet Union, then Russia accounted for almost 70% of deaths. If 2.7 million total losses, then Russia's losses are almost 1.9 million people. Of course, for us this is an event that concerns every citizen of the Russian Federation, our every family, and we are not playing with any toys here.

About candidates for negotiations with Russia

For me personally, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Schroeder, is preferable. As it is, let the Europeans choose a leader they trust and who has not said any nasty things about us. We have never been closed off from negotiations. It's not like we refused, they refused.

On the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Listen, this primarily concerns Russia and Ukraine. If someone wants to help us and is doing so, and we see that the current US administration and the president of the United States are sincerely, I want to emphasize this, sincerely striving for a settlement, they clearly do not need this conflict, they have many other priorities, then we are only grateful to them for this. But this is primarily a matter for Russia and Ukraine.

About the situation around Iran and the Middle East

As for Iran— the United States, [this is] a very difficult, complex conflict, and it puts us in a difficult position, because we have good relations with Iran and friendly relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf, without any exaggeration. And we continue to contact both sides, and we hope that this conflict can be ended as soon as possible.

In my opinion, there are no interested parties to continue this confrontation. Of course, we understand that agreements must be reached in the interests of all the peoples and all the States of this region. There are different options. I would not like to go into details now, we imagine them, what they could be, and in general they can be achieved. Conversely, if the situation escalates and the level of confrontation increases, everyone will be the loser.

About the West and the conflict in Ukraine

What is the West? This is the so-called, I think, globalist trend of Western elites. Here it is fighting with us by the hands of Ukrainians. And, of course, they have settled in well in this sense. They provoked this conflict. I told you how it started. I didn't come up with anything about the starting point. Strangely enough, it was about whether or not Ukraine would join the EU. Yes, for God's sake, let them join, but it came to an armed conflict. And why? Because everyone didn't give a damn about Russia's interests.

Moreover, in an effort to use Ukraine as a tool to achieve their geopolitical goals, these figures in the West deceived everyone. They're talking about it publicly now. And they started deceiving us about the expansion of NATO to the east. Back in the early nineties, "Not a step to the east," we were told then. So what? Where is it?

And all of this, taken together, has provoked the current situation. So they are fighting with us, but, I repeat, it has already become clear to everyone, by the hands of Ukrainians.

On the negotiations in Istanbul in 2022

Recently, my colleagues and I were talking, and we also recalled how it all unfolded. After all, we agreed with the Ukrainians in Istanbul in 2022, initialed the agreement. Then one colleague, Mr. Macron, called me and said that Ukraine could not historically sign such documents "with a gun to its head." This is a direct speech, we still have a recording of the conversation.

And what should be done? Well, it would be necessary to withdraw troops from Kiev. Well, they took me away. Another representative of show business, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, immediately arrived, and what? He says: you can't sign this agreement, it's unfair.

And who determines whether it is fair or not? If a representative of the negotiating group from the Ukrainian side initialed these documents, what is unfair here? Who determines this?

Well, everything is great: they promised help and began to unleash the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day.

About the causes of the protracted conflict

I think it's coming to an end, but it's still a serious thing. The question arises: why did they expect Russia's crushing defeat in the first place? We know very well that the collapse of statehood has not been achieved for several months. And then they got into this rut and couldn't get out of it. That's the problem.

Although there are certainly smart people there, there are also those who certainly understand the essence of what is happening. Well, I hope that these political forces will gradually return to power or will take power into their own hands with the support of the overwhelming majority of European countries.

About the security zone

We need to make sure that no one threatens us. That's all. This is what we will strive for. And the fact that technology is for them (Ukraine. — Izvestia) is given in Europe, and we know that some of the equipment is being assembled there. They are playing for a raise, but judging by what has just been said, they are already looking for contacts with us, they understand that this game for a raise can be expensive.