Remarks at a Meeting with Citizens of the Republic of Dagestan when Awarding Government Decorations for Valour and Dedication in Performing Their Civic Duty to Defend the Constitutional System in the Republic of Dagestan.Part 1
December 29,2000
The Grand Kremlin Palace,Moscow.
Выступление на встрече с гражданами Республики Дагестан, удостоенными государственных наград Российской Федерации за отвагу и самоотверженность, проявленные при исполнении гражданского долга по защите конституционного строя Республики Дагестан.
29 декабря 2000 года.
Москва,Большой Кремлевский дворец.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon.
I very much wanted to meet the people of Dagestan before this year was out. Last year I was in Dagestan over the New Year holiday. This time around I dont think I can make it, so I have asked the head of the Republic to organise this meeting.
I think we have ample grounds for discussing what has recently been done in the North Caucasus and in the Republic, and I think that the people of Dagestan have earned the right to special treatment. We remember well the events in the summer of 1999, when the people of Dagestan, people from different, mainly civilian walks of life, stood up to armed militants in very difficult conditions.
Courageous resistance to aggression and I must say that, leaving aside strict legal formulas, it was actually an aggression by international terrorists courageous resistance to aggression was offered not only by the law enforcement bodies of the Republic, who are obliged to do so in the line of duty. The people, the civilians blocked the way of the aggressors. And from that moment on, the militants who set their foot in the land of Dagestan were doomed to defeat in Russia as a whole. I think it was the behaviour of the people of Dagestan that determined the end result for the terrorists, the end result of their adventure. Because we know and this was confirmed in the event that the will of the people is stronger than arms, and the people of Dagestan have always cherished their honour and dignity, of which we saw further proof.We can recall other sad times, we can recall tragic times: in the mid-1990s, when the people of Dagestan were helping their neighbours, the Chechen people, their brothers, and when armed people came to your land that was a big mistake by the extremists. At that time you displayed genuine patriotism, a readiness to act effectively without sparing yourselves.
The militants used not only force and treachery; they tried to brainwash people with false promises, to speculate on their religious values, but there too they failed to deceive you. The people of Dagestan have wisdom in their blood, which sprang from years of life together in the multi-ethnic family of the peoples of Russia. It has the historical experience of living in peace and friendship. More than a hundred different peoples live in Dagestan alone. That is a tremendous experience and, by the way, not a bad example for multi-ethnic states anywhere.
Dear friends,
Your actions in the summer and autumn of 1999 made the authorities at all levels work more actively and helped to unite society in the Republic and in the country. I remember ordinary people from Dagestan making appeals on the screen. And I felt that those appeals were addressed to me, too. I remember ordinary women from Dagestan saying: After all, do we or dont we have a government? If you dont want to defend us, give us weapons and we will defend ourselves. Honestly, it made a very strong emotional impression on me, it was simply amazing.
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В.Путин.Интервью телеканалу ОРТ 07.02.00 Part 3by niknikolay24,205 views
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