Kremlin: ‘Real Russians are not ashamed to be Russians, if so, they have separate ways with Russia’

Reinforcement of Russia's western borders is not connected with border closure, Kremlin assures

Russian volunteers will not be involved in the special military operation in Ukraine. This was stated by the press secretary of the president of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov.

“Shoigu [Minister of Defence of Russia — editor's note], offering to send volunteers to Ukraine, spoke about fighters from the Middle East, there was no talk about fellow citizens," the Kremlin representative explained.

Also, according to Peskov, Putin's instruction to prepare a report on reinforcement the western borders of the Russian Federation in the near future doesn't imply border closure.

It was also said again about a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky: conceptually it is possible, but first the negotiators must do their part.

“Real Russians are not ashamed to be Russians”

The presidential press secretary also spoke about the new introduction of Meta concerning lifting the ban on calls for violence against the Russian military on their social networks Facebook and Instagram. In a number of Western countries, the atmosphere of hatred towards Russians is high, Peskov stated, adding that Russians should be vigilant and cautious.

“Real Russians are never ashamed to be Russians, if someone say so, then it means they are not Russian, and there are no issues with them, they are not with us," said the Kremlin representative.

The information that Facebook and Instagram have allowed calls for violence against Russians should be checked, and if so, it is necessary to decisively stop their activities, RIA Novosti reports Peskov's words.

Russia has a safety margin to pay off external debts in rubles

The Kremlin also assured that there are no prerequisites for a default in Russia.

“We have heard the statement of our heads of financial departments, Ministry of Finance and others about the readiness to have the necessary margin of safety to pay off all external debts in rubles. In fact, there are no prerequisites for a default as such, unless they are artificially created for us," Peskov stated.

The press secretary of the president of Russia believes that the US sanction aspirations against Russia can last for a long time. Restrictive measures would be introduced regardless of the special operation in Ukraine.

Read the chronology of the military operation of Russia, consequences and reaction in a story of Realnoe Vremya.