Putin took part in the ceremony of awarding volunteers with the "We are Together" award. The main thing

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the award ceremony for the winners in the nomination "Volunteer of the Year — 2025" within the framework of the International Award "We are Together". The main part of the president's words is in the Izvestia article.

About the importance of the work of volunteers

Opening the ceremony of awarding the winners in the nomination "Volunteer of the Year — 2025" within the framework of the International Award "We are Together", Vladimir Putin noted the importance of this work.

"There is only one thing that unites everyone — a kind heart. It is very important that the number of volunteers has more than tripled: from 10 to 32% of the population. It is especially important that you include the participants themselves in your work. This plays a big role for young people who see real, non-fairy-tale heroes of today, who know what the Motherland is and how to protect it. An extremely important thing. This allows us to achieve a synergistic effect," the president said.

The President recalled that more than 600,000 volunteers joined the work to support the participants of the SVO and their families.

"When the special military operation began, 630 thousand people (volunteers. — Ed.) joined in the work to support our guys, the heroes of their war and their family members," Putin said.

About the International Day of the Disabled

Vladimir Putin pointed out the direction of work to support people with disabilities and recalled that today marks the International Day of the disabled.

He noted that every state has the task of supporting people who need it. However, any law is already outdated at the time of its writing. Only direct communication with people, understanding what they need at a given time and in the near future, helps the state to navigate its policy in this important social area in a timely and correct manner.

About the appearance of the award and the time of the coronavirus

Putin pointed out that the We Are Together forum was created during the coronavirus, when the whole world was struggling with this disease and did not know what it was.

"People got up and organized themselves, and started helping those who were in particular need of help and support. Without sparing themselves, some gave their own lives in this struggle for people. They died saving others," he said.

This is a very illustrative example for all the peoples of the Russian Federation, the Russian President stressed.

"It's in our blood to help our neighbors, to support those in need. You and your friends and colleagues are very good at this. Thank you very much!" said Vladimir Putin.

About the winner of the award and the cleaning of the Black Sea

After awarding the winner in the nomination "Volunteer of the Year — 2025", which was Anna Pluzhnikova, the President of the Russian Federation pointed out an important component of her speech about saving the Black Sea.

"They were protecting people's health. Thank you for that," the President said.

What is the "We are Together" award?

The International We Are Together Award has been held since 2020, and it has become one of the key areas for the development of volunteerism in Russia. It was launched on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation to support social initiatives aimed at helping people and improving the quality of life, continuing the traditions of the All-Russian Mutual Aid campaign #MYPLACE and inheriting the experience of the All-Russian Volunteer Initiatives Competition "Volunteer of Russia".

The solemn ceremony of awarding the international prize "We are Together" is taking place within the framework of the forum of the same name. In 2025, a record number of applications were submitted for the award — 52,383 from 147 countries. In five years, the number of participants has doubled, and the geography has expanded 2.5 times (from 59 to 147 countries).

The organizers of the forum are Rosmolodezh. Dobro", the Association of Volunteer Centers and the Dobro.RF platform.

This year, the winners were selected in such nominations as "Volunteer of the Year", "Mentor of the Year", "Heroes of our Time", "Generation of Kindness", "Land of Opportunity", "Code of Mercy" and others.

39.7 thousand applications from 89 regions of Russia were submitted to the national track of the award, which is 25% more than a year earlier. The participants of the national track were citizens of the Russian Federation over the age of 14, non-profit, charitable organizations, commercial companies, as well as authors of social and creative content. The award in the nomination "Volunteer of the Year" was traditionally presented by Russian President Vladimir Putin.