"Our heroes have created the conditions for the start of a serious dialogue with their victories"

The resumption of dialogue between Moscow and Washington has largely become possible thanks to the courage and steadfastness of our Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin said on February 27 at a meeting of the FSB board. While Turkey hosted the second meeting of the Russian and US delegations dedicated to the work of the embassies, the head of state said that the first contacts with the administration of Donald Trump "inspire certain hopes." At the same time, he noted the attempts of some Western elites to prevent this dialogue. The President called on the FBS to make every effort to prevent this. At the same time, the expert community did not rule out that cooperation between the Russian and American special services would develop against the background of the resumption of contacts between the two countries.

Vladimir Putin praised the dialogue between Russia and the United States

On February 27, the president traditionally addressed a meeting of the board of the Federal Security Service. Summing up the results of 2024, Vladimir Putin thanked the FSB staff for their professionalism, determination and dedication, noting the high level of task performance.

—The relevant units acted promptly and competently, defended Russia's sovereignty and national interests, the rights of our citizens, reliably protected the constitutional system, fought terrorism, extremism, crime, and conducted complex counterintelligence operations," he said.

The President expressed gratitude to the FSB border guards who "took the blow of superior enemy armed formations" and those who acted behind enemy lines, on the line of contact, and also protected residents of new territories. The Head of State and the board members observed a minute of silence in memory of their fallen colleagues.

Putin particularly focused on the resumption of dialogue between Moscow and Washington. In his opinion, today's dynamic changes in the international landscape are largely the result of the courage and steadfastness of the Russian Armed Forces.

It was their valor and their daily victories that created the conditions for the start of a serious dialogue, a dialogue on a fundamental solution to the Ukrainian and other crises, including Of course, we always talk about this, and we have never given up on it, in a peaceful way; about creating a system that truly ensures balance and mutual consideration of interests, a system of indivisible European and global security, and for the long term, when the security of some cannot be ensured at the expense or to the detriment of the security of others. and certainly not at our expense, not at Russia's expense," he stressed.

According to Putin, the first contacts with the Trump administration "inspire certain hopes." It demonstrates "a mutual commitment to work towards the restoration of interstate relations and the gradual resolution of the enormous volume of accumulated systemic and strategic problems in the global architecture."

— It is important that our current partners demonstrate pragmatism, a realistic view of things, and abandon many stereotypes, so—called rules, and messianic, ideological cliches of their predecessors, which, in fact, led to the crisis of the entire system of international relations, and, strictly speaking, we are with You can see this too — the Western community itself has begun to collapse from within. This is evidenced by the problems in the economy of many Western countries and in domestic politics," said the President of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, he noted that the resumption of Russian-American contacts does not suit some of the Western elites, who are still determined to maintain instability in the world.

— These forces will try to disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun. We can see that. We need to take this into account and use all the possibilities of diplomacy and special services to thwart such attempts. And most importantly, as before, it is important for us to firmly defend our national interests, sovereignty, life and freedoms of our citizens from any threats," Putin stressed.

In this regard, the President called on the FSB to continue its systematic work in all relevant areas, and, above all, in the field of combating international terrorism. Over the past year, the number of terrorist-related crimes has increased, and more than half of them are planned and organized by the Ukrainian special services and their supervisors, the head of state noted.

Given the desire of Moscow and Washington to restore diplomatic relations, cooperation between the secret services will also develop, says Andrei Kortunov, an expert at the Valdai Club.

— After the September 11 attacks, much has been done to coordinate efforts in the fight against international terrorism and political extremism. It is clear that this problem has not gone away, and it is clear that both Russia and the United States are concerned about this problem. If the negotiations that took place in Istanbul continue, if relations gradually improve, then, of course, joint activities in this area will be one of the important dimensions of bilateral cooperation," he told Izvestia.

On February 27, the second meeting between the US and Russian delegations ended in Turkey. It was devoted to the issues of the embassies' work. The parties talked at the residence of the Consul General of the United States in Istanbul. The negotiations lasted more than six hours.

The President has set new tasks for the FSB

Among the specific tasks facing the FSB, the President noted the strengthening of security measures for military, industrial, public facilities, as well as energy and transport infrastructure facilities. Work should also continue to strengthen the anti-terrorist potential of federal service units in the regions of Donbass and Novorossiya. In addition, additional measures must be taken to protect the state border in potentially dangerous areas. The President also called for combating extremism and any attempts to divide and divide Russian society and pit representatives of different nationalities and religions against each other.

Given the increased activity of foreign intelligence services during the period of its independence, the FSB needs to seriously "strengthen the counterintelligence cover for military and strategic information," especially related to the creation of new weapons and the introduction of advanced technologies in other industries. At the same time, Vladimir Putin urged not to allow excesses.

— I am paying attention: As for civil technologies and developments, it is necessary to do this not in a formulaic way, but calmly, competently, and intelligently. So that the achievements of our scientists do not go into safe deposit boxes, but are quickly introduced into production, used both in our market and in increasing our high—tech exports," he added.

The President also paid attention to the sphere of economic security. He called for more active work to combat corruption, primarily when it comes to the implementation of state defense orders, national projects and the promotion of long-term federal and regional programs. Against the background of the growing number of cyber attacks on the domestic information infrastructure, Putin instructed the FSB to increase its security and look for new methods to neutralize such threats.

On the eve of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, the head of state remembered the heroes of the Russian special services: intelligence officers, special forces, Smersh fighters, border guards, "who made a truly invaluable contribution to the defeat of Nazism and their accomplices - Bandera, OUN and all kinds of traitors, collaborators of all stripes."

"Modern history also knows many examples of the true valor and self-sacrifice of our fighters, our comrades. I am convinced that the current generation of defenders of the Motherland, including FSB officers, will sacredly preserve the traditions of their predecessors — those who defended the interests of the Fatherland during the Russian Empire, during the Soviet era, and in modern Russia, protecting the security of our country and our people," the president concluded.>