Interview with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, conducted by journalist Pavel Zarubin (October 22, 2026) Key points: • The historical regions are not Ukrainian territory - they are the territory of historical Russia. The people living in these territories voted, first, for state independence; as a second step, they voted for reunification with the Russian Federation. Talking about any “territorial losses” is inappropriate. • The anti-Russian campaign in European countries, the constant talk about a Russian threat and the start of preparations for war with our country, is a political schizophrenia. ❗️ It is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield; inflicting a strategic defeat on it is unrealistic. • Those who have sought the “strategic defeat” of Russia throughout the centuries - and unfortunately, such people still exist today - will come to realize the realities of modern life and understand that it is better to live in friendship with Russia. This is in the interests of their peoples. • If you look at the political processes taking place in Europe, it becomes obvious: the peoples of Europe do not want to fight Russia. • We do not want this, and we are not preparing for any war with Europe. But for some reason, the current Ukrainian leadership has decided that the whole world must pay this Ukrainian leadership, fight for them, supply weapons, ammunition, equipment, and so on. • Some European countries want to fight with Russia in order to weaken it. And how does the Ukrainian leadership itself treat its own citizens? It treats them as expendable material. They are rounded up like stray dogs on the streets and forcibly driven to the front line. Official data indicates that there is half a million deserters, over 300,000 criminal cases. ❗️ We have always advocated for a peaceful resolution, from the very first days. In 2014, we offered to help Kiev negotiate with the South East of what was then Ukraine. No – they used cannons and airplanes against the civilian population, essentially starting a war. Then the Minsk agreements were signed. We have always sought to reach an agreement with that part of Ukraine that did not agree with the State coup in Kiev. • We are still ready to negotiate and seek solutions to this difficult, complicated situation, particularly because these are people who are very close to us. Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Everything can be agreed upon. In any case, we will accomplish our tasks, and all the goals of the special military operation will be achieved. *** • Regarding our negotiations with a representative of the United States administration, we agreed that we are ready to resume our trilateral contacts. • The goal of these negotiations will be to discuss the issue of ensuring the security of Ukraine and Russia after peace agreements have been reached - specifically in their final version, and not as a result of a suspension of combat operations for some short period of time. We are ready to resume these contacts to achieve this goal. • The representative of the US administration noted that if we are to discuss issues related to ensuring security in the future for both Ukraine and Russia, then naturally we will also need to talk about the architecture of European security as a whole. And I also agree with this. Let’s see how the situation develops in the coming days. Read the full interview kremlin.ru/events/president/… t.me/EmbUSA/11150