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BBC Monitoring
Putin faces world media at second Kremlin news
conference
Source: Russian Public TV (ORT), Moscow, in Russian 0830 gmt 24 Jun
Russian President Vladimir Putin answered a wide range of questions at his second Kremlin news conference for the world media, speaking on issues such as police corruption, returning life in Chechnya to normal and relations with the rest of the world.
Asked if the rise of right-wing extremism affecting Europe could touch Russia too, Putin said that there is less of a threat of floating voters being drawn to extremist parties in Russia.
He said: "I think it's linked to a particular distortion in domestic policy priorities. Somehow underneath universal human values individual people in individual countries get forgotten and this produces these results and distortions. As for Russia, I can't see that this is a threat."
A Russian journalist asked about poverty in his region. Putin turned the subject to policy and international trade. His answer included the following: "We must proceed from the realities in which we live. Let me reiterate that this does not mean we can disregard the [liberal economic] values, nor does it mean that we should enter into conflicts. We must not allow economic conflicts to turn into political conflicts, confrontation and trade wars. What this means is that any such issues must be resolved in a consistent and persistent fashion through a process of negotiations."
Chechens must run Chechnya
Putin said the conflict in Chechnya should not be blamed on the Chechen people, but on the failings of the Russian state. He said "the Chechen people are not guilty of anything. I think that it is the fault of the federal central government that the Chechen people were left to the mercy of fate in those days [of the first Chechen War in the mid-1990s]. We will not look for specific culprits, but it is clear that Russia's state machinery failed. For what can an ordinary Chechen citizen do when a gang of 100, 200 heavily armed people come into the village?"
He also called for policing in the long-suffering republic to be handed over to the local people: "It is the Chechens who must defend Chechnya. It is clear that this cannot be done quickly, but let us remember that even a year ago, 18 months ago, we were told: you will not be able to find a single Chechen who would support the federal forces." "Today this is forgotten because the Chechen people are actively supporting the federal centre's efforts to establish order on their native land," he said.
The BBC Russian Service asked what could be done to end police corruption and improve their crime fighting record, and why Putin's reproaches to officials on this issue were ignored. Without responding to the latter part of the question, Putin replied that it was not fair to put all the blame for problems in fighting crime on the country's law-enforcement agencies: "Because, in this case we would not be able to see the roots of crime. They are in the social and political sphere. Therefore, fighting crime requires comprehensive measures to be taken by the state during quite a long period. You cannot achieve everything at once."
Putin said that the state lacked effective state tools and mechanisms. "One of the most vital of those tools are the law-enforcement agencies. They also need to be reconstructed, to be strengthened," he said.
Kaliningrad not to be abandoned
Putin said that closer relations with Europe would not come at the expense of Russian sovereignty over any of its territory.
Asked specifically whether Russia's attitude to its Kaliningrad exclave had changed since the weekend's EU conference in Seville, Putin said: "We are in favour of developing relations with the European Union. We welcome, incidentally, the expansion of the European Union because the European Union as a whole is our main economic and trade partner. We are part of Europe ourselves and very much expect that the expansion of the European Union will lead to further deepening of our cooperation with our partners in Europe, in Eastern Europe, as well as in Western and Central Europe. At the same time we will never agree to decisions that, by their very nature, would destroy sovereign Russian territory. And introducing special conditions of some kind for Kaliningrad would undoubtedly have that effect."
The regions - give and take
A reporter asked whether regional authorities were sabotaging the reformist tendencies of the central authorities in Moscow.
Putin replied: "It would be very easy for me to make use of the hint contained in your question and blame everything on our regional leaders. It would have been dishonest, incorrect, untrue and harmful. I think that as far as a number of key issues is concerned, the regional leaders, governors, the presidents of the republics of the Russian Federation, the presidents of the republics which form part of the Russian Federation unconditionally support the president and the government alike." He added: "I must say that a certain amount of resistance was encountered as far as the solution to a key question is concerned, the question of making regional laws compatible with the federal laws. However, on the whole it has been found possible to persuade the regional leaders of the overall benefit for the whole country and, consequently for all the regions." "Incidentally, nor does it mean that our federal decisions are always the best," he concluded.
In response to a question about the feeling in some areas that the federal centre was just taking resources from them, Putin turned the criticism back on the regions: "And what have these regions been doing over the course of the previous 10 years? They did not pay wages for years. Pensions were not paid for months at a time. Social benefit payments were not paid at all. They accumulated billions, billions in debts for child benefit and so on, which we are still trying to pay. What other operational decision can be taken now other than to redistribute these resources - how? - via the federal centre."
NATO no panacea
An Estonian correspondent asked how Russia viewed the Baltic states' aspiration to join NATO and whether it would try to obstruct them. Putin's reply was that the Estonians stood to gain little by joining NATO, but if they really wanted to Russia would not stand in their way.
"We've set out our position on NATO expansion on many occasions and I can repeat that position," Putin said. "We don't think that NATO expansion will enhance anyone's security. Neither that of countries intending to join NATO, nor that of the organization itself. Go onto the streets of New York, Brussels, Berlin or Paris and ask: will Estonia's joining NATO make you more secure or not? I doubt that the answer will be in the affirmative. And I don't think it will improve Estonia's security either. But I think it would be a tactical and strategic mistake to obstruct Estonia's entry into NATO. If Estonia wants to join, then let it."
Russia wants to join the world
Putin highlighted turning Russia into a fully-fledged and equal partner of the developed countries as Russia's main foreign policy aim. He said: "The main task which Russia is now facing is the development of its economy and an improvement in living standards." He went on: "It is impossible to develop efficiently without being totally immersed in the world economy. If we want Russia to benefit from this, it is impossible to resolve the problem without one main prerequisite: enhancing trust in international relations."
In response to a claim that polls show over half of Russian businessmen were against membership in the World Trade Organization, Putin said the opposition came mainly from uncompetitive enterprises and asked who was doing the counting. He said he believed that a "substantial part of Russian business is for entry in the WTO".
Arafat key to Middle East peace
On the crisis in the Middle east, Putin said that Palestinian leader Arafat ought not to be removed, for this would radicalize the Palestinians.
He repeated Russia's oft-stated view that: "Our view is that all conflicts and problems must be tackled on the basis of the majority decisions taken at the UN and it is on this basis that the untying of the Middle East knot must proceed. At the same time, he said, Russia condemns terrorism and calls on the Palestinian leadership to do everything in its power to ensure the unconditional cessation of terrorist activities in the region. He said by the Palestinian leadership he meant primarily Arafat. "I must note in this context that his removal from the political arena would be dangerous and erroneous, because in the view of the Russian leadership it would merely lead to a radicalization of the Palestinian movement," he said.
Surrounded by enemies?
He rejected the statement that many of those in power, including the government, which he had criticized only recently, either didn't like or didn't understand his policies, leaving him the most isolated person in the country. Asked to name a single major political figure who was on his side, Putin said, to great applause: "The Russian people." Asked to choose again, he said: "That's sufficient."
He went on to elaborate, saying: "As for the military and the Foreign Ministry and so on, you're wrong to think that domestic and foreign policy are based solely and exclusively on the president. We seek to resolve the main problems and the main issues collectively."
Georgia and Belarus
On the problem of Chechen fighters basing themselves in Georgia, Putin replied that only by working with Russia could Georgia tackle this problem. "There is a solution, but it cannot be uncoupled from cooperation with Russia. Nobody, not US special troops and not Georgia's own trained units, can solve the problem of terrorists in the Pankisi gorge without the direct and active involvement of Russia's special forces and units of the Russian army. The solution will only come when public opinion and the leadership in Georgia itself understands this and is ready for such action."
After recent reported disagreement with Belarus over their proposed union, Putin said there are no differences with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on the matter.
He said: "Strange as it may seem, there are no differences between us. I set out my position on a number of issues. Alyaksandr Ryhoravich heard me out attentively and said that in principle he shares my concerns on some of them and we agreed that we would meet once again, around 25th or 28th of this month, before the end of the month, to consult."
Replying to a question by BBC TV, Putin said that Russia must have a free press. "True freedom of the press will arrive when the media become self-sufficient and cease to depend on the group interests of businesses unconnected with the media, when the situation in which the mass media are used as an instrument for obtaining competitive advantages in areas of the economy which are altogether unconnected with the mass media disappears. Let me, however, reiterate, that this depends on numerous factors which must, of course, be ensured by the state and here I absolutely agree with Boris Nikolayevich [Yeltsin]," he said.
A man of the people
Another reporter asked Putin how he stayed in touch with the people despite the relatively isolated nature of his life. Putin said: "My considerable advantage is that - no offence meant to my colleagues - I have always felt and, I believe, still feel very strongly the worries of an average Russian citizen." He went on: "This is a great advantage in decision-making. This helps. Of course, feedback is necessary, one should not lose it, and it's difficult to preserve it because the circumstances of my life are such that they lead to a certain amount of isolation. This is why I am trying to visit the regions more often. This is why many events take place outside the Kremlin."
The event was broadcast on Russian Public TV, Radio Russia and Mayak radio. It was scheduled to last 90 minutes, but went on for just over two hours after Putin asked for more questions when the allotted time was up. See the FS1 file or Monitoring Select for the full text of the news conference.
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