Putin's annual address to Russia's Federal Assembly as it happened

The address ends after about 90 minutes.

Russian people feel in their hearts that the future of the country depends on their own actions, and they will do their best to improve the country. The government’s task is to help them achieve this.

All Russian actions in military terms are aimed at ensuring in safety, to eliminate even a shade of possibility that somebody would try to use force against Russia. What Russia wants is peace.

The American elites may be misguided in that they believe themselves to be exceptional. But do they have counting skills? They should use them to assess Russia’s new weapons and take decisions based on what they calculate.

Despite what some nations claim, Russia is not a threat to other nations. Russia’s military moves come in response to what the US and its allies do and are defensive in nature. The policies of Washington are short sighted, destructive and ultimately undermine America’s own interest.

Russia has sped up the deployment of some military assets, including the Tsirkon anti-ship missile and several ships, Putin announced.

Putin gave an overview on Russia’s actions to develop the weapon systems, which he first announced in March 2018. This includes deploying a submarine armed with the Poseidon nuclear-propelled long-range torpedo.

The current international situation does not call for an escalation. The US already tried and failed to achieve an advantage over Russia by developing anti-ballistic missile capabilities. Russia responded to those moves to preserve its deterrence.