Answers to media questions

Vladimir Putin answered questions from the Russian media to sum up his visit to Kyrgyzstan.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good evening.

I think that I must begin by thanking the President of the Kyrgyz Republic and all his colleagues for their efforts to organise the SCO Summit. What a major endeavour. Those of you who have already been here have probably noticed that some of the buildings were constructed specifically for this event. It was all well organised at a proper international level. In fact, everything was impeccable from an organisational standpoint, and we also adopted important documents. I would like to congratulate the President of Kyrgyzstan and all his numerous team members for achieving this result. This is what I wanted to say at the outset.

Now I will be delighted to answer your questions. Go ahead, please.

Alyona Nefyodova: In your today's remarks, you said that the SCO is the world's biggest regional organisation. What potential does it have in terms of its future development, in your opinion? Can we expect new participants to become SCO members? Or does promoting deeper integration among the current membership dominate the agenda at this point?

Vladimir Putin: Let me remind you that the decision to establish the SCO did not come out of nowhere. As I have already said, in the wake of the Soviet Union's dissolution, it was created with a mission to prevent and cut short any possible border conflicts, smooth out incidents and any shortcomings, while also serving as an effective platform for working together primarily on security matters. And all these aims were accomplished in a beneficial, timely manner and effectively.

However, it soon became clear that this platform can be used to go beyond this agenda by discussing not only security issues, but also economic development, fighting organised crime, drug addiction and trafficking, terrorism, and followed by environment-related matters and cultural cooperation. Overall, the SCO started gathering pace and gaining positive momentum. It is not a coincidence that other countries from this region were eager to join this organisation.

Today, it is one of the most powerful regional structures. As I have already said in my remarks - I do not remember whether this statement was open to the public or not, - the SCO accounts for more than half of the global population or something along these lines, and about a third of the global GDP. It has vast natural resources and incredible logistics opportunities. In fact, the SCO represents a half of the world. The fact that there were countries that wanted to join it and become full members within this organisation was not a coincidence. This is how the SCO expanded to include 10 member states, with another 15 countries contributing to its work in various capacities and statuses. All these countries now have observer status.

As for whether we need to expand the organisation and when it can happen, it all depends on what the SCO's permanent members decide. We have a shared understanding that we cannot allow the SCO to grow into a loose structure by including countries or any participants in this process who do not share our common approaches or something else.

Therefore, we want this organisation to be inclusive. We want it to have more members. There was an agreement among us to do this on a step-by-step basis without any haste. Those who become observers must also understand where they are and what principles guide us in our action.

But what makes the SCO so appealing, in general? It is appealing because all matters are decided by consensus and based on specific agreements. No one imposes anything on anyone. This is a platform for working together as part of a collective decision-making process and the decisions we take must benefit the participating countries. In this sense, I believe that the SCO has a great future ahead of it.

Olga Knyazeva: Today, very much attention is given to our contacts with the United States. The CIA director has reportedly visited [Moscow] to offer trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine talks.

Do you think we need any negotiation tracks now or possibly new intermediaries, including American ones?

Vladimir Putin: First, communication between our intelligence services is maintained at all times. You may have noticed that we have recently handed over to the American side an American citizen who was serving a prison term in Russia. We did that for health and humanitarian reasons. He is a simple guy, a drinker and a brawler with health problems, so we sent him home to get medical assistance.

It was my first point. Communication is and was always maintained, even in the most difficult periods of the Cold War, and even more so now. Direct contacts are also maintained between the senior officials of our intelligence services.

As for expanding the number of negotiators, we believe that negotiations, any kind of negotiations, should be primarily filled with concrete content. If anyone is making or can make a practical contribution to this process, we are all for it.

The only thing we would like to avoid is to carry on a senseless process. If anyone can make a positive contribution to this negotiating process, which has been frozen to some extent, as we see this, we would not be against this. But this requires the involvement of specialists, the military and diplomats, of course.

On the other hand, we are quite comfortable with working with those who we know well and generally trust. These people are close to President Trump. In my opinion, they are sincere people who try to add practical content to our efforts. And President [Trump] trusts them, which is very important and without which no negotiations are possible. The thing is that everything is pointless if these people coordinate some issues with us but their top leader reviews the arrangements they make and divides them by a thousand or more. As far as we can see, he trusts them. That is why Mr Kushner and Mr Witkoff are always welcome here, and we enjoy working with them.

Pavel Zarubin: Good evening.

A few days ago, you drew a rather unexpected analogy involving orcas, polar bears and the special military operation. So, who is who there, and whom did you mean?

Vladimir Putin: You know, it was quite spontaneous - it occurred during a meeting, I believe, at the Pedagogical University, and it was indeed an impromptu remark. As for orcas and bears… If your suggestion is that the orcas symbolise, so to speak, the collective West, I would say that the orca is, without doubt, a formidable predator, yet it is also a highly intelligent creature, a cunning one. The collective West, for its part, was assigned a specific definition in the Soviet era, which remains current to this day - the sharks of imperialism.

Nonetheless, the essence, of course, is much as you have surmised. The thrust of my remarks was that if anyone attempts to drag us down the food chain and devour us, to consume us, they would be well advised to expect their teeth to be broken. And Russia stands ready to do precisely that, despite the insatiable appetites and ever-sharpening teeth of these sharks.

Viktor Sineok: The same applies to the special military operation.

Russian troops are currently advancing towards Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, and strikes on Ukrainian military facilities are ongoing.

Has the turning point in this conflict already been reached, and will the enemy, as the saying goes, begin to crumble? Or does that moment still lie ahead?

And what is the present situation at the front, and how do you assess it?

Vladimir Putin: I have no doubt whatsoever that the enemy will, indeed, crumble. Matters of precise timing are always exceedingly complex, and these are precisely the questions to which it is best not to attempt definitive answers - neither in respect of timing nor of any other specifics. For war is an enterprise that is harsh and difficult to predict.

Nevertheless, questions of the sort you have just raised invariably arise at every meeting with media representatives. That is why, before entering this hall, I proceeded to my office upstairs and have just spoken directly with the Chief of the General Staff. I would note, however, that the information I receive is sourced from a wide array of channels, from virtually all command bodies of the special services and our agencies which, in one manner or another, are engaged in the special military operation. Accordingly, the picture - at least as it appears to me - is fairly objective. I have just received the latest reports from him [Valery Gerasimov] and from other colleagues.

To be continued.