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The first Small Homeland – the Strength of Russia All-Russian Municipal Forum organised on the President’s instructions brought together over 7,000 representatives of municipalities from 89 Russian regions.

Earlier today, Vladimir Putin took part in the ceremony for presenting the Service award. It was awarded in ten categories to representatives of the municipal community who made a significant contribution to solving local issues and developing local self-government.

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Excerpts from transcript of meeting with heads of municipalities of the Russian Federation constituent entities

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, friends, good afternoon.

Welcome. I am very glad to see you.

Together we will discuss – in fact, we have already started discussing on our way here – issues you are addressing on a daily basis and to which you have dedicated your life.

I will say – I said this in the hall and I will repeat this here – that it is clear that your work is the most difficult, because you work directly with people and you have to answer questions which sometimes have nothing to do with you and which are not within your competence; but people still come to you first of all: they cannot reach Moscow, the Kremlin, or the Government, but I hope they can get to you.

Of course, the work should be structured in a way that your competence coincides with the amount of funding and sources. We will probably talk about this today.

This is the first all-Russian municipal forum, and it has a very beautiful name: Small Homeland – the Strength of Russia. As I was told, it is being attended by 7,000 people total, which is a lot, an enormous number, but Ms Guseva [co-chair of the Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government] has just told me that the total of 4.5 million work in the system. Of course, it is impossible to gather everyone, but all of them have contributed something to the development of their corresponding areas.

There are very good practices but anything may happen – the country is enormous and, naturally, has many problems. However, there exist very good practices and we should certainly scale them. It is very important to have platforms that make it possible to do that.

I hope that today you will also share your ideas and impressions of what is happening in this country and why, and, of course, primarily as regards you personally and your jobs.

I already said this in the hall but will repeat it again with pleasure that Executive Order instituting the honorary title of Merited Local Self-Government Worker of the Russian Federation was signed today. It is long overdue because this is one of the most important areas of work. It would be no exaggeration to say that it is of national significance. Many people have deserved to be recognised for their services by the state in this way as well.

And, of course, we have a real interest – when I say “we” I mean the country as a whole – in these jobs being filled (I will say a few words about this later) by well-trained, high-potential people that are able and willing to work and achieve results in this most important sector.

In other words, strengthening the workforce is a very important area. It has many aspects and it is probably impossible to mention all of them. I would like to draw your attention to some of them. First, as I have said many times, it is of course necessary to pay attention to the people returning from the special military operation zone. You know, when people decide to do it, when they go through that furnace and return, they see differently many priorities in their lives.

In this case, one won’t be jumping around without pants at some party. These people have a completely different view of life, you know. Their priorities and values are different. If these people are inclined to do such work, they should of course be given this opportunity.

No doubt, it is necessary to get young people involved in it. As we like to say – this is a cliché but it is justified – young people are our future. They have a better sense of their own generations. They better transmit generational things and can respond more flexibly to the needs of society, which is important.

As you know, the School of Mayors programme for the development of the municipal management personnel pool was launched at the end of the last year. In all, 160 people are studying in the first two streams. Another two streams will be launched this year.

I would like to hope that this will be a good and useful platform (both for you and your subordinates). It would be great if you get to experience the real intellectual support during it.

The so-called Digital University of Municipalities has also started working – this is online training. The GosStart programme for helping young employees is functioning. Frankly, if you have an idea of how all these instruments are working, we would like to hear your opinion about this and your advice on how to improve this system.

And of course, all programmes for developing and training municipal personnel should be available to our colleagues from Donbass and Novorossiya. This goes without saying. We will probably talk about this, too; they need to integrate into our legal system.

I will also note the role of the Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government. Ms Guseva was talking about this just now. It is not only that association helps raise the prestige of local self-government and those who work in this system; it also fosters dialogue with regional and federal authorities, which is extremely important in order to get informed decisions implemented at the municipal level. You can make a lot of decisions, and there is always a lot of good intentions. But how to achieve them? That is a different issue. Here, of course, dialogue and considering what is possible, not just desirable, are very important.

What else would I like to note? I think that we must use all the mechanisms to more actively involve municipalities in developing the national development agenda. In this context (we have just talked about this, too, and my colleagues praise it), the activities of the State Council and making platforms like this attractive is important. We will continue to do so. We also have the Council for the Development of Local Self-Government, among other things. At its meeting last April, if you remember, we talked about the difficulties you are facing, and we are now trying to implement some of the solutions.

What am I talking about, what do I mean? A detailed inventory of all spending powers of municipalities is being carried out. To be honest, we have been doing this every year, without interruption, dividing powers and sources of funding. But overall, this work is still useful. Based on the results, the Government must make a decision on eliminating duplicate or unusual functions inappropriate for the nature of local self-government. Also, if there are any thoughts on this matter, I will be happy to listen and take note.

Next, control and supervisory activities are also a very important area. It is important to warn in a timely manner about possible mistakes and help people on the ground not to make these mistakes instead of seizing assets or issuing fines.

In this context, the Prosecutor’s Office too should expand the practice of using preventive measures rather than just punitive sanctions, as we also mentioned. If you have any thoughts or comments on this matter, please.

Digital solutions, digital technologies. Of course, we are implementing them across the country, in all industries. It is also important to use these technologies at the municipal level. I hope you do. If you have any thoughts on this matter, please, I will gladly take them into account as well.

I think this is all I wanted to say at the beginning.

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Vladimir Putin (commenting on the remarks by Galina Rudenko, head of Krasnogvardeisky District administration in the Belgorod Region, about the special military operation): I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to you and everyone who lives close to the border [with Ukraine] for your courage and unity. We will do our best to support you.

Regarding you and your colleagues among the municipal authorities, I am aware of your heroism under shelling. I mean municipal employees and the help they provide to the elderly, children, and women. This is nothing short of manifesting the best traits of our national character.

Here is what I would like to say in this regard. Perhaps, it has not reached our audiences. I do not think it has been widely covered in the media. Just recently, the former president of the Czech Republic was clear about a crucially important matter. He said publicly just a few days ago, “The war in Ukraine did not start in February 2022, but in the summer of 2008, when the decision was made…” Has our media covered this?

Remark: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Good. I will still say it “…when the decision was made to open the doors to NATO for Ukraine and Georgia.”

As a reminder, Ukraine gained its independence based on the Declaration of Independence which said that Ukraine was a non-aligned state. The 2008 decision upended the situation in Eastern Europe from the point of view of ensuring Russia's security.

On top of that, a coup d’état followed in 2014, and the Russians were declared a non-titular population in Ukraine. Next, an array of other decisions was made that led to what is now happening in Latvia and other Baltic countries where Russians are pushed out of those countries. You see, these are very serious matters that directly affect our country’s security. In 2014, after the coup, fighting ensued in Donbass, and they unleashed a shooting war which led to the tragedy that we are experiencing today.

What we are witnessing now, namely the unity of our society and our economy getting stronger not only in agriculture, but in industry as well, and the growing capability of the Armed Forces caught the opposite side off guard completely and absolutely.

What is happening in the neighbouring territories? People, just onlookers, are asking, “Why are the Kiev authorities doing what they are doing: shelling peaceful cities and towns, and indiscriminately attacking entire areas? What military sense does it make?” It makes no sense, zero. But why are they doing it? There is an answer to that question.

First, they thus show their people and their sponsors who give them money, weapons, and ammo, that they are able to respond to Russia's precision strikes that target military infrastructure and defence enterprises scattered all over Ukraine in order to fulfil one of its main goals which is to demilitarise Ukraine. They are trying to prove that they, too, are a capable force. But instead of working on combat missions, they, like barbarians, are using multiple rocket launchers to lay entire towns and villages to waste.

The second task. By refusing to negotiate – they refused to talk, let me remind you that we reached an agreement in Istanbul. I am saying this to you, representatives of the municipal authorities, and all Russian citizens should know this of course, but you are the ones working directly with the people. We agreed on everything. Moreover, the head of the negotiating team on the Ukrainian side even signed off on this. We have the document, it bears his signature. But they said they needed some kind of signal that Russia seriously intended to resolve those issues peacefully, such as withdrawing our troops from Kiev. We pulled out. A day later, they threw all the agreements in the garbage. They have just said publicly, including the head of the negotiating team, who actually leads the ruling party in parliament, in Rada, and he said: “Yes, we were ready. We missed that chance because the former British Prime Minister, Mr Johnson, came and persuaded us to drop the agreements.” Stupid, right? What is really being said here is: “If we had done this, everything would have been over a long time ago, a year and a half ago.” This just underscores once again that they are not acting independently. This is clear to everyone, and it is now obvious to the world.

But that is not all. Of course, one of the main objectives of strikes like this is to divert the attention of their own population and their sponsors from the total failure of the so-called counteroffensive, complete and utter failure.

As for this negotiation process, it is an attempt to make us give up the gains that we have made over the past year and a half. That is impossible. Everyone understands that it is impossible – the ruling circles in Ukraine, and the Western elites – everyone understands that the so-called peace formulas widely discussed in the West and in Ukraine are mere extensions of the Ukrainian President’s order banning any negotiations with Russia. That is what it is. These are requirements that prohibit negotiations.

If they do not want to, let them be. It is just that if the current situation persists, what is happening now – it is quite obvious that, not only has their counteroffensive failed, but the initiative is entirely with the Russian Armed Forces now – if this continues, Ukrainian statehood may sustain an irreparable, very serious blow. But that is their responsibility. It will be the result of their policies, their governing decisions.

As for our citizens, especially those living in these territories, I would like to once again express my gratitude for their courage and unity. And I ask all those who work there, all municipal employees, to continue serving the nation just as they do now.

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Alexei Suvorov: Mr President.

Alexei Suvorov, Head of the Mari-Turek City Administration, Republic of Mari El.

Allow me to tell you my story. We, the Suvorovs, have a Hero of the Soviet Union in our family. Sergei Suvorov went to the frontline in 1941, at the age of 19. He led a group of machine gunners, who engaged the enemy near Kaluga. The only survivor, wounded and bleeding, he kept fighting the unequal battle throughout the day. Only in the middle of the night were the medics able to evacuate him from the battlefield. They found the remains of 22 enemy soldiers around his trench. My grandfather fought in that great war, and we won that war. And a peaceful life was established.

But now, the Nazi scum have reared their heads again. And we, the descendants of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, did not stay at home. Like many others in the municipal service, I decided to volunteer to defend our Motherland, peaceful sky and the future of our country. I could do no other – firstly, because of my heroic surname, Suvorov, and secondly, this is what we do in our family.

We have women in this room who are heads of [municipalities]. One of them has four sons, and the father of her sons is now at the frontline; her colleague’s husband died a hero’s death.

There is no higher priority today than to defend our homeland, its new frontiers. We will do our best. On the home front, our wives, mothers and grandmothers knit socks and mittens, weave camouflage nets, and our children write letters to soldiers at the front. Our soldiers read them and cherish them, and this gives them strength and confidence.

Mr President, when we were based in the Lugansk Region, we found children’s books in Ukrainian that praised NATO soldiers and described how those soldiers came to establish peace in Ukraine, while we, the Moskals, which is their slur for Russians, were portrayed as enemies and foes of the Ukrainian people. We do not want them to come here and brainwash our children with false and distorted information. There is no doubt that the enemy will be defeated and victory will be ours.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Suvorov, you told us about your family. This is what our society is based on, everything is passed on from generation to generation. It is not only because of your sonorous last name, Suvorov, but also because we have always traditionally taken care of our relatives, families and the Motherland in general. It is a tradition that is passed on from heart to heart. One can read about it. But the information you read will never have the same effect as the personal example provided by those we deeply respect and whose footsteps we are trying to follow: our parents. We may not understand it or notice it; it is always at the back of our minds. It is engraved there.

I have already told you how I read letters from my granddad who wrote them to his son who was at the front. And this is what he wrote… you know, there is a moment I did not speak about but will share with you now. In his letter, he describes how my grandmother died in his arms because she was shot in the abdomen, so she was bleeding to death in his arms. And he writes to his son, “kill those bastards” and so on. But you know, there is a curious thing that I think is common for all peoples in Russia, Russians and other peoples in Russia, that attracted my attention. In his letter he writes to his son “your mum is dying in my arms. And she says to him, “do not cry, don’t make me sad.” Can you imagine? I was so touched by that. So, she knows that she is dying, but she loves her husband so much that she tells him not to cry. She is dying and is thinking about him and asks him not to upset her. I think this attitude to each other and to our Motherland is in the blood of our people. Such people cannot be defeated.

And those who try to adopt some other alien traditions, other inner promptings, as you said, and to join NATO, these are people who, without even having begun to do something, have already lost. They have betrayed their ancestors, their people and their interests. Traitors never win in the long run. They can seize something, steal something and devour it under a blanket. But they will never see success. Still less, if they worship open Nazis and accomplices of Hitler. How is this possible? Only several decades ago, their ancestors fought Nazism, and they are supporting it today. Such people cannot win, by definition.

Those people have been brainwashed and told about some kind of independence. Nobody was targeting their independence, ever. And it is not clear what this is, actually. This is not the right place and we do not have much time. But we have always protected our interests and will continue to do so.

Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin (commenting on a report by Albert Apshev, the mayor of Alchevsk, Lugansk People’s Republic, on the development of the city and assistance to Donbass and Novorossiya from other Russian regions): First, I would like to say that the new regions are working very actively. They have started paying taxes to the federal budget. It is true that they also receive substantial assistance from the federal budget. It became possible thanks to the smooth and confident performance of our economy and all the financial and economic sectors of the country. You know about our GDP growth and how our financial and banking system have performed. This is why we could send over 1 trillion rubles, or more precisely 1.077 billion, to the new regions. It is a substantial sum.

You have seen just now from the example of the Lugansk Republic that some issues are being dealt with. Not all the issues have been resolved to our satisfaction, of course. As far as I know, the water conduit in Donetsk is not working as we expected, and there is still much to do in this regard. The same goes for Lugansk. I have recently talked with the head of your republic about this.

It is important that industrial enterprises have stated working; this is great. It is a good and big industrial region, meaning the Lugansk region, not to mention Donetsk.

As I once said, some time ago I read archival documents. When the Soviet Union was established, the government of the Donetsk-Krivoi Rog Republic (this is how it was called back then) did not imagine their territory to be outside the RSFSR and even came to an agreement to that effect with the central authorities. But Vladimir Lenin decided, as he put it, to “redecide” the issue and made the territory part of Ukraine.

When the leaders of the Donetsk-Krivoi Rog Republic asked how this could have happened, and said that they had an agreement and only see their region as part of Russa, Lenin replied: “It has to be redecided”. He did that because he had met with representatives of would-be Ukraine, who complained that they would only be left with peasants. Peasants were considered “petit bourgeois elements” and a difficult foundation for building communism. At least that was the formal argument. This is what the transcripts of those conversations kept in the archives say. We have them in the State Archives. I asked them to be brought to me, and I have read them. This is what he said, “It has to be redecided.” They pleaded with him: “Why? We had an agreement.” And he replied: “It has to be redecided.” They redecided, and now we have a problem we must resolve today.

It became clear after the dissolution of the Soviet Union that this is what we would eventually have to do. Of course, at the time of its dissolution we hoped that the fundamental ties between Ukraine and Russia would be stronger than the opportunistic considerations of the nationalist part of society, especially since the Declaration of Independence said that Ukraine was a neutral state, as I said before. But no, those nationalist elements turned out to be more aggressive and started pushing their agenda through, which has led to the current situation.

But those who lived in that territory, which you probably know better than I do, have always saw themselves as part of Russia, which is obvious. This explains the results of voting [in the recent election in Donbass].

I have pointed this out more than once: people cannot be forced to participate in voting. Results can be falsified through mail-in voting, which was done to falsify the results of the previous election in the United States. You understand how this is done: they bought ballot papers for $10 each, filled them in without observer oversight, and mailed them in. This is how it was done.

But it is impossible to make people come to polling stations, not even at gunpoint. If they did not want to vote, they would not have come to polling places, and that would have been it. It is called voting with your feet. They came to the stations and cast their ballots. Is this not democracy? Democracy is the expression of the people’s will.

That is why when people from over there lecture us about democracy and try to force their type of democracy on us, they should know that they will not succeed, above all because people here think differently. They want to be with Russia, together with Russia. They have already become part of Russia, and we will do everything in our power to help them deal with the problems they are faced with. We will certainly help you.

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Vladimir Putin: Ms Guseva mentioned Direct Line. You know what I took note of? I was trying to look at the screens on the left and on the right and wanted to respond to one message but could not for lack of time because they were asking me other questions. Anyway, it was a short message but it said at the end: I will not vote for you.

I will explain why I remembered that. First, feedback is always very important. Second, we have many more unresolved problems than the ones we have resolved. I think Mr Anatoly Balbekov [Head of the Administration of the Bobrovsk Municipal District in the Voronezh Region] said that the more problems we resolve the more horizons open up before people. There is nothing bad about this and I will say it directly – people want more because they develop other needs, and this is completely normal.

When we see that someone is not completely satisfied or is completely dissatisfied with how we are addressing problems, we must always remember that the number of unresolved problems is higher than the resolved ones. There are also very many people that require special attention from us. Yes, on the whole we have reduced the number of people living below the poverty line a bit, but there are still large numbers of them.

Yes, we have raised real wages and real disposable incomes a bit, but there are still a lot of people, especially families with children that lead a very modest life. And there are many things we must do. We should never be offended by any criticism directed at us. We should regard it as a guide to action. We must be grateful to people for drawing our attention to the problems that we have not yet resolved.

But you have done a lot in the most recent period, and I thank you very much for this.

I wish you all the best.