As the President, the head of the Russian state, as
someone who swore an oath to defend this country and
its territorial integrity, and simply as a citizen of Russia, I
am convinced that in reality we have no choice at all.
Because to allow ourselves to be blackmailed and
succumb to panic would be to immediately condemn
millions of people to an endless series of bloody
conflicts like those of Nagorny Karabakh, Trans-
Dniester and other similar tragedies. We should not turn
away from this obvious fact.
What we are dealing with are not isolated acts intended
to frighten us, not isolated terrorist attacks. What we are
facing is direct intervention of international terror
directed against Russia. This is a total, cruel and full-
scale war thatagain and again is taking the lives of our
fellow citizens.