Government of Russia

08/12Government of Russia: Overseeing Pacific Fleet drills, President Putin said that if European states began seizing Russian merchant vessels and selling their cargo, Russia would be forced to respond in kind, Reuters reported. European states had boarded and detained shadow fleet tankers under expanded sanctions.

Mixed audience · ru

06/03Government of Russia: After Ukrainian strikes on St Petersburg during the economic forum, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's response would be systematic.

Domestic audience · ru

04/09Government of Russia: Announcing the Easter pause, the Kremlin said it expected Ukraine to follow the example of the Russian Federation; it did not mention Zelensky's earlier proposal.

Foreign audience · ru

04/03Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow wanted a lasting peace settlement rather than a temporary truce, in response to Ukraine's Easter ceasefire proposal.

Foreign audience · ru

02/18Government of Russia: Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky called the Geneva talks difficult but businesslike and said the next meeting would take place soon.

Foreign audience · ru

02/04Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the door to a peaceful settlement remained open but Russia would continue the war until Ukraine adopted the relevant decisions.

Foreign audience · ru

01/23Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Donbas was a very important condition for a settlement. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow wanted a diplomatic outcome but would pursue its goals on the battlefield until then.

Foreign audience · ru

12/29Government of Russia: Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had attacked Putin's Valdai residence with 91 drones, that such reckless actions would not go unanswered, and that Russia would revise its position in the talks while not withdrawing from negotiations with the US.

Mixed audience · ru

10/16Government of Russia: Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would not change the situation on the battlefield but would significantly harm relations between the two countries and the prospects for a settlement.

Foreign audience · ru

08/15Government of Russia: Vladimir Putin, speaking after the Alaska summit, said he had reached an understanding with Donald Trump, hoped Kyiv and European capitals would not torpedo it, and said a lasting settlement required eliminating the root causes of the conflict.

Mixed audience · ru

07/23Government of Russia: Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, after the Istanbul talks, said a meeting between Putin and Zelensky should be used only to sign a finished settlement, not to hold discussions, and that the two sides' positions remained quite far apart.

Mixed audience · ru

05/16Government of Russia: Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow was satisfied with the Istanbul talks and ready to continue contacts, and cited the 21-year Great Northern War with Sweden as a sign Russia was ready to fight as long as it took.

Foreign audience · ru

03/28Government of Russia: Putin suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary administration under UN auspices to hold new elections; a US spokesperson rejected the idea and the Kremlin later said it was one of several options and had not been raised with Trump.

Domestic audience · ru

03/13Government of Russia: At a Kremlin news conference with Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said the idea of a 30-day ceasefire was "the right one" and that Russia supported it, but that there were questions to discuss with the Americans before it could proceed.

Mixed audience · ru

01/24Government of Russia: Putin told a Russian state television journalist that Russia was open to and ready for negotiations with Trump on Ukraine and that it would be better for them to meet "based on the realities of today".

Domestic audience · ru

12/18Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the killing of General Kirillov showed that Ukraine does not shy away from terrorist methods.

Mixed audience · ru

11/21Government of Russia: In a televised address, President Putin said Russia had used a new medium-range missile, Oreshnik, in combat against a target in Dnipro in response to Ukraine's use of US and British long-range weapons, said the conflict had taken on a global character, and said Russia considered it had the right to strike military facilities of countries whose weapons were used against it.

Mixed audience · ru

11/19Government of Russia: President Putin signed a decree updating Russia's nuclear doctrine: aggression by a non-nuclear state with a nuclear power's support is treated as a joint attack, nuclear use is considered on reliable information of a massive attack with missiles crossing the border, and the threshold is a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity, including of Belarus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a conventional Ukrainian attack with US missiles could potentially trigger a nuclear response.

Mixed audience · ru

11/18Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports that Washington had allowed Ukraine to fire US missiles deeper into Russia signalled a new round of tensions and a new situation regarding US involvement in the conflict.

Mixed audience · ru

09/25Government of Russia: At a Security Council meeting, President Putin announced planned changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine: aggression by a non-nuclear state with the support of a nuclear state would be treated as a joint attack on Russia, and nuclear use would be considered on reliable information of an incoming aerospace attack or a conventional attack posing a critical threat to Russia or Belarus.

Mixed audience · ru

09/12Government of Russia: President Putin told journalists in St Petersburg that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range missiles against targets deep in Russia would mean NATO countries were at war with Russia, arguing that only NATO personnel could programme such strikes, and said Russia would respond to the threats.

Mixed audience · ru

07/11Government of Russia: Former president and Security Council deputy chair Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram that Ukraine's irreversible path to NATO should end with the disappearance of Ukraine or NATO, or both.

Domestic audience · ru

07/09Government of Russia: Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that photos and videos showed the Okhmatdyt hospital was hit by a Ukrainian air defence missile, not a Russian strike.

International body · en

06/24Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the Sevastopol strike barbaric, accused the US of killing Russian children and said US involvement could not go without consequences.

Foreign audience · ru

06/14Government of Russia: Speaking at the foreign ministry on the eve of the Swiss summit, Putin said Russia would cease fire and start talks immediately if Ukraine withdrew from all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions within their administrative borders, gave up NATO membership, adopted neutral non-nuclear status and sanctions were lifted.

Foreign audience · ru

06/14Government of Russia: Putin said almost 700,000 Russian troops were fighting in Ukraine, up from the 617,000 he cited in December 2023; Ukraine's military intelligence said the true figure was about 450,000.

Domestic audience · ru

03/28Government of Russia: Russia's Investigative Committee said it had verifiable information that the Crocus City Hall attackers received significant sums of money and cryptocurrency from Ukraine.

Domestic audience · ru

02/29Government of Russia: In his address to the Federal Assembly Putin warned that Western support for Kyiv risked a nuclear conflict, said Russia's strategic nuclear forces were in full readiness, and called fears of a Russian attack on a NATO country nonsense.

Domestic audience · ru

02/20Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Yulia Navalnaya's accusation that Putin was behind her husband's death absolutely unfounded and vulgar.

Domestic audience · ru

01/31Government of Russia: President Putin said it was obvious that Ukraine shot down the Il-76 transport over Belgorod region on 24 January and claimed a US-made Patriot system was used.

Domestic audience · ru

12/30Government of Russia: At the UN Security Council, Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya called the Belgorod strike a terrorist attack by Kyiv on a sports centre, an ice rink and a university, and said Russia's 29 December strikes targeted only military infrastructure.

International body · ru

10/31Government of Russia: Russia's representative to the UN Security Council described the gathering hit at Hroza as a legitimate military target, without explicitly accepting responsibility. The UN monitoring mission said it found no military personnel or target at or near the event.

International body · ru

10/05Government of Russia: At the Valdai forum in Sochi, President Putin said the head of the Investigative Committee had told him fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the Prigozhin crash and that there had been no external impact on the plane; he gave no detail on how grenades could have detonated on board.

Mixed audience · ru

08/25Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Western suggestions that the Kremlin ordered the crash that killed Prigozhin an absolute lie, and said test results on the victims would be published when ready.

Mixed audience · ru

08/24Government of Russia: After nearly a day of silence, President Putin offered condolences to the families of all the victims of the crash and described Prigozhin as a man who made serious mistakes in his life but achieved the right results.

Domestic audience · ru

07/18Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the overnight missile strikes on Odesa as retaliation for the 17 July attack on the Crimean Bridge.

Mixed audience · ru

07/17Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Black Sea agreements had ceased to be in force because the part concerning Russia had not been implemented, that Russia would return immediately once its conditions were met, and that the decision was not linked to the Crimean Bridge attack.

Mixed audience · ru

06/26Government of Russia: Putin said Russia's enemies, including what he called neo-Nazis in Kyiv, their Western backers and national traitors, wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other during the mutiny.

Domestic audience · ru

06/24Government of Russia: In a televised address Putin called the Wagner rebellion betrayal and treason and said all who prepared it would suffer inevitable punishment.

Domestic audience · ru

06/13Government of Russia: Putin said Ukraine's counteroffensive had suffered catastrophic losses, including 160 tanks and more than 360 other armoured vehicles, against 54 Russian tanks, that Kyiv's casualties were ten times Moscow's, and that Russia might create a sanitary zone inside Ukraine if attacks on border regions continued.

Domestic audience · ru

06/06Government of Russia: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the accusations and called the dam's destruction deliberate sabotage by Ukraine ordered from Kyiv, aimed partly at depriving Crimea of water.

Mixed audience · ru

05/03Government of Russia: The Kremlin said drones used against the Kremlin overnight were a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president's life.

Mixed audience · ru

03/25Government of Russia: Putin said stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would not breach non-proliferation commitments because the US had long kept nuclear weapons in allied European states, and that Russia would keep control of them.

Mixed audience · ru

03/20Government of Russia: Former president and Security Council deputy chair Dmitry Medvedev said it was possible to imagine a hypersonic missile fired from a Russian ship in the North Sea at the ICC building in The Hague.

Mixed audience · ru

02/21Government of Russia: In his address to parliament Putin announced Russia was suspending participation in New START and accused the West of direct involvement in attempts to attack Russian strategic air bases.

Domestic audience · ru

12/26Government of Russia: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia's proposals for the demilitarisation and denazification of territory controlled by Kyiv, and the removal of threats from what he called Russia's new lands, were well known, and that Kyiv should fulfil them for its own good or the Russian army would decide the matter.

Mixed audience · ru

12/15Government of Russia: Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said Patriot systems deployed with NATO personnel would become a legitimate target for Russia's armed forces, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov backed the threat; foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said delivery would be another provocative move by a US that had effectively become a party to the war.

Foreign audience · ru

10/10Government of Russia: Putin told his Security Council that the strikes on Ukraine's energy, military and communications facilities were a response to the Crimean Bridge blast and other attacks he called terrorism, and warned of severe responses to further attacks.

Mixed audience · ru

10/09Government of Russia: Putin called the Crimean Bridge explosion an act of terrorism devised, carried out and ordered by Ukrainian special services.

Domestic audience · ru

09/30Government of Russia: At the annexation ceremony Putin said residents of the four regions had made their choice and would be Russian citizens forever, said Russia would defend them by all means available, and cast the war as a confrontation with the United States and the West.

Mixed audience · ru

09/27Government of Russia: Former president Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said Russia had the right to use nuclear weapons to defend itself and that this was certainly not a bluff.

Mixed audience · ru

09/21Government of Russia: Announcing partial mobilisation, Putin accused the West of nuclear blackmail and said that if Russia's territorial integrity were threatened it would use all means at its disposal, adding that this was not a bluff.

Mixed audience · ru

08/22Government of Russia: Russia's Federal Security Service said Ukrainian special services prepared and carried out the killing of Darya Dugina, named a Ukrainian woman as the perpetrator and said she had fled to Estonia.

Mixed audience · ru

07/07Government of Russia: Meeting parliamentary leaders in Moscow, Putin said Russia had not yet started anything in earnest in Ukraine, dared the West to try to defeat Russia on the battlefield, and said Russia did not reject peace talks but that negotiations would get harder the longer they were delayed.

Domestic audience · ru

03/10Government of Russia: Speaking in Antalya, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Mariupol maternity hospital had long been seized by the Azov battalion and other radicals and that mothers and staff had been moved out before the strike.

Foreign audience · ru

02/24Government of Russia: In a televised address announcing the invasion, President Putin said the goal was to protect people who had been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv government for eight years, and that Russia would seek the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.

Domestic audience · ru