Events

The Russian President’s persuasive and evidence-based statement should reach people in Russia and beyond — Speaker Valentina Matvienko

The people of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have expressed their will, and it is now imperative to spare no effort in making sure that they feel protected, the Federation Council Speaker said.


The speech that President of Russia Vladimir Putin delivered at the ceremony of signing the agreements on the accession of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia can be described as a message to the world community, among others, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko told journalists.

“It was a very persuasive, evidence-based and emotional speech,” the Speaker said. “It is important that it should reach people beyond Russia, and make them think about what is happening.”

She added that the speech contained serious arguments supporting the special military operation and explaining the reasons why it was inevitable and had to be launched.

“The West has attempted to cleanse the global information space, but the truth will out. We have seen that the West is not almighty. An objective historical change has begun in Novorossiya,” the Speaker said.

“These are historical days for both the people living there, for our country and for the entire Russian World. Despite the difficulties, we had no other choice, no moral right to fail to support the people who had suffered so much.”

The Speaker also spoke about the courage of those who had risked their lives to take part in the referenda. “This is their will and their choice,” she said. She also emphasised that the people of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson had the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter. Moreover, they had the “right to secession as a human right,” that is, the right to withdraw from a state on humanitarian grounds. Valentina Matvienko reminded journalists of the fact that these people had lived for years without social support and under continued shelling and military provocations.

The Speaker believes that no effort must be spared to make the people of these regions feel protected, including with regard to their living conditions and social guarantees. “They are now entitled to all social payments and benefits like the rest of the citizens of Russia.”

Valentina Matvienko said that much remained to be done to rebuild the cities, schools and hospitals that had been destroyed. Simultaneously jobs should be created and wages paid on a regular basis.