Good afternoon, dear friends! I see many new faces in the room, and I am pleased to welcome the representatives of our pool who regularly attend briefings. I realize that many of you may not be familiar with the history of the Ukrainian conflict, so I would like to begin the briefing with a brief explanation of the root causes of the confrontation. Root causes of the Ukrainian conflict The Ukrainian conflict is not a regional conflict, but an element of the geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West. The Western countries deliberately ignored Russia’s security concerns, pursued a policy of continuous eastward expansion of NATO, and dragged Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic anti-Russian camp. With the active support of the United States and the EU, an armed coup was carried out in Kiev in 2014, bringing to power radical nationalist forces fully controlled by the West. Their task was to destroy the common historical, economic and spiritual space of Ukraine and Russia. Since 2014, the Kiev regime has systematically violated human rights, especially of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, instilled Russophobia, falsified history, glorified Nazi war criminals from World War II, and carried out aggression against civilians in Donbass. As a result, Ukraine has been turned into a springboard for the fight against Russia and has become a serious threat to Russia’s security. Having realized the futility of all attempts to negotiate with the West, the Russian leadership decided three years ago to launch a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Current situation at the frontline Over the course of the special military operation, the Russian armed forces liberated 75% of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and took control of 99% of the Luhansk People’s Republic. The Russian military has liberated about 63% of the territory of the Kursk region, which was invaded by Ukraine last August. As Russian troops advance along the entire front line, more and more facts of atrocities committed by the Ukrainian military against civilians are being uncovered. The most egregious cases were recorded during the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the town of Selidovo and the village of Russkoe Porechnoye in the Kursk region, where at least 22 people were killed by Ukrainian soldiers. Traces of torture and rape were found on the bodies of 11 women. In order to secure the border areas of the Russian regions, which are subjected to daily shelling by the Ukrainian artillery, Western missiles and drones, Russian troops are developing an offensive in the Kharkov region. It is safe to say that the initiative on the battlefield belongs entirely to the Russian military. Role of the “Collective West” Today, military actions against Russia are carried out almost entirely at the expense of Western financial and military aid to Kiev. Since the beginning of the special military operation, its total amount has exceeded $350 billion. Recently, the West has created new instruments of military support for Kiev: in December 2024, the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) was established in Germany. In February this year, the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Center (JATEC) began operations in Poland. Despite the fact that reasonable politicians in countries pursuing unfriendly policies toward Russia are increasingly realizing the futility of financial injections into Ukraine and the impossibility of its victory on the battlefield, the United States under the Biden administration has continued to contribute in every way possible to the further escalation of the conflict. Prospects of Settlement Nevertheless, Russia has never given up on a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis. In June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward concrete proposals for a final settlement of the conflict. They include the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the new Russian regions, the recognition of the new territorial realities, Kiev’s non-NATO membership, the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia, and the guarantee of full rights for Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens. The essence of the proposal is not a temporary ceasefire or truce, as the West would like, in order to restore losses, rearm the Kiev regime and prepare it for a new offensive, and not in freezing the conflict, but in its final conclusion. The main result of the negotiation process should be the establishment of peace in Europe and the creation of a new system of regional security. However, Kiev and the West, especially the European countries, still think in terms of war. Their response to the Russian proposal for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict was the invasion of the Ukrainian military into the Kursk region in August 2024. They are acting like the most brutal and radical terrorists: shooting civilians, looting Russian villages, attacking journalists, and threatening nuclear facilities. The lack of condemnation of these illegal actions by Western countries and international organizations contributes to their further expansion. Western countries also show the same hypocrisy with regard to international law, which is selectively interpreted: the decision of the Kosovo parliament of February 2008 on independence from Serbia is recognized by the West, calling it a “fait accompli”, while the referendums on the incorporation of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia are strongly condemned by the West, qualifying them as “annexation”. Mediation Initiatives Russia highly appreciates the efforts of the Global South to find a non-military solution to the conflict. China, Brazil and a number of African states have already demonstrated a deep understanding of the causes of the Ukrainian crisis, its geopolitical significance and the need to take Russia’s interests into account. Their proposals contain many rational provisions that Moscow supports. These include respect for international law, rejection of the Cold War mentality, the indivisibility of security, and the inadmissibility of unilateral sanctions. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the political and military leadership of Pakistan for its consistent position of Pakistan’s neutrality regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Last September, at the initiative of our Chinese and Brazilian partners, the inaugural meeting of the “Group of Friends of Peace in Ukraine” was held in New York. We note the sincere desire of its founders to contribute constructively to a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine. It is important for the Group to consider the principles of the Charter of the United Nations in their completeness, totality and interrelationship. The territorial integrity of States should not be mentioned in isolation from the right of peoples to self-determination and the protection of human rights regardless of language and religion. Start of the Negotiation Process with the Donald Trump Administration The Russian leadership appreciates Donald Trump’s determination to settle the Ukrainian conflict by diplomatic means. We positively assess the recent contacts with representatives of the new U.S. administration: the telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump on February 12, the telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on February 15, and the Russia-U.S. talks in Riyadh on February 18. Donald Trump was the first Western leader to publicly call pulling Ukraine into NATO “one of Biden’s biggest mistakes”. It seems that for the first time in a long time, the United States is willing to seriously consider Russian concerns about NATO’s eastward expansion. Nevertheless, we realize that now we are only talking about the beginning of the negotiation process, which promises to be difficult and lengthy. The main results of the series of bilateral contacts between Russia and the United States so far are as follows: – an agreement was reached to establish a permanent communication mechanism on the resumption of normal functioning of diplomatic missions, the elimination of problems and obstacles to the development of mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation, including with a view to preparing a meeting of the Presidents of the two countries; – a decision was made to launch a separate negotiating track dedicated to the Ukrainian settlement; – as the above two tracks move forward successfully, there is an understanding to expand the bilateral agenda to include geopolitical issues and other regional conflicts, in particular in the Middle East. At the same time, we see that the opponents of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, mainly in Ukraine and Europe, are becoming more active – these people are trying their best to derail the negotiation process. This is related to the recent fake story about a Russian drone allegedly hitting the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Kiev regime’s attack on the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, whose largest shareholders include companies from the United States, and the provocations and shelling of IAEA officials. In conclusion, I would like to note that this year we will celebrate two important anniversaries: the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In this regard, we plan to dedicate our next briefing, tentatively scheduled for April, to the memory of the joint victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazism. We will inform you about the date of the event.