Putin spoke at the opening ceremony of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. The main thing

On February 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the opening ceremony of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. The initiative is aimed at strengthening national unity, peace and harmony between peoples. The main statements of the Russian leader are in the material of Izvestia.

About how Russia was born

Putin pointed out that Russia developed in different ways, but showed infinite respect for the peoples who joined it. He noted that Russians, as a nation, arose on the basis of various Slavic ethnic groups that lived separately from each other.

"And they united only when they had a common territory, common, as they would say now, economic interests, a single government and common spiritual values. The Russian people are still a young people, passionate, aspiring to the future. But gradually, our multinational country, Russia, was formed on the same basis, when different nations joined it," the president said.

He also stressed that the main thing was endless respect for those peoples who were part of Russia, full respect for their culture and traditions, and for their spiritual values. That is why, over the centuries, values have become common.

"Over the centuries, various events and dramatic events have taken place with Russia, but the absolute phenomenon is that during the time of troubles, it was deep Russia that stood up for Moscow, and therefore for the common Russian statehood, when a militia was formed in the Volga region and moved to Moscow to liberate it from foreign invaders, and therefore protect it. Russia as a single state for all who live in this territory," the head of state noted.

Putin also stressed that a similar thing happened at a later time, during the invasion of Napoleon and Hitler.

"After all, diverse armies were also moving towards us then, but they were also united. But their association was based on completely different principles. They were united by a desire for profit, a desire to take something away from us, to conquer, destroy, seize," Putin said.

The Russian people, the head of state noted, were united by the desire to preserve everything — common land, families, culture, traditions. Such unity is the most powerful and powerful.

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About the military

Putin stressed that the same thing is happening today.

"Our fighters, our heroes on the front line, in the zone of a special military operation, address each other as "brother" despite their different ethnic backgrounds, even despite the difference in religion, and this is very expensive. This underlines our invincible unity," the head of state said.

He also added that this is the basis of Russia's victories and achievements in various fields.

The context

Putin declared 2026 the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia by decree, which was signed on December 25 last year. The initiative was proposed by the ataman of the All-Russian Cossack Society, Vitaly Kuznetsov, at a meeting of the Council on Interethnic Relations in the Kremlin on November 5, 2025. It is aimed at strengthening national unity, peace and harmony between peoples.

First Deputy Head of the Administration Sergey Kiriyenko and Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova were appointed co-chairs of the organizing committee for the events.

The Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia was launched by a marathon called "Russia — Family of Families" at the Rossiya National Center. As previously reported on their official website, more than 2.9 thousand representatives of different nations from 89 regions of the Russian Federation participate in the marathon. It was also stated that it would also bring together about 1,000 representatives of youth projects and more than 50 foreign guests. The focus is on the uniqueness of the Russian Federation as a country where hundreds of nationalities live in one family.