08/08/2026
My dear Singapore, Happy National Day! 🇸🇬
To Singapore, its people, its communities, its leaders, and everyone who has contributed in their own way to making Singapore the country we know today: I wish you prosperity, strength, good health, and every success for the road ahead.
I truly believe that the size of a country does not determine the size of its possibilities. When people care about their country, take responsibility for its future, and remain committed to building a better society, they can achieve extraordinary things.
Singapore has shown this to the world.
I was fortunate to spend many years of my life in Singapore, and I will always be grateful for what this country gave me: Opportunities, friendships, experiences, lessons, and a perspective on what is possible when people choose to build rather than simply accept what already exists.
From where I am today, I also want to say that I hope there will always be opportunities for people from Singapore and Russia to meet, travel, learn from one another, and build meaningful cultural, educational, business, and human connections.
The world is going through complicated times, and many things are beyond the control. But I believe that friendship between people should always have a place — regardless of circumstances.
Countries may have different histories, interests and perspectives. But people can still meet, listen to one another, exchange ideas, create together and discover what we have in common.
I will always value people who remain honest, genuine, open-minded and human; people who can maintain friendship, respect and mutual understanding even when the world around us becomes complicated.
And perhaps this is one of the things I admire most about Singapore: Its belief that being small does not mean thinking small.
It means being brave enough to look beyond your borders, curious enough to learn from the world, and confident enough to build your own future.
Above all, I wish Singaporeans good health and wellbeing.
