Chris Doss The Russia Journal ----------------------------
Excerpt from interview with Mikhail Gorbachev conducted for PBS television series Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/
Russia's Current Situation and Putin's Economic Reforms
INTERVIEWER: Could you talk briefly about the economic reforms that you began in Russia? You talked about Yeltsin; how do you feel that President Putin is pursuing the economic reforms? Do you think that his economic policies hold the promise for real reform, long term, in the Soviet Union?
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV (via interpreter): I think that it's very important to have clarity on three issues here. First of all, what kind of legacy did Putin inherit? He inherited chaos in the economy, in the social sphere, in public policy, in the affairs of the federation, in military matters. And therefore his very first task that he needed to address -- and he addressed it during his first year, and it's not yet over -- was the stabilization of the country, uniting the forces of the nation in order to create the prerequisites to move ahead. He has done a great deal despite his shortcomings and mistakes. We all know that. I know that. We see that he has made mistakes, but he wants to pull the country out of the crisis, and we see that, too. So in the West you often criticize Putin without really understanding the context in which he started to act, and how he is acting. I believe that Western analysts are sometimes making this mistake by not taking this into account. They are sometimes asking why is it that in this difficult situation [that] 70 percent, 80 percent of the people continue to support Putin? Well, I've told you one reason for that.
The second thing to be taken into account is that Putin right now is working on what I feel is the most important problem, and that is the medium-term and long-term program, a strategy for more than a year or two, for a longer term. This is now what he is doing. And let me tell you that different viewpoints clash, different approaches clash in the process of developing this longer-term policy. I believe that if Putin chooses the right scenario, the right vector of development, the people will support him, and that will help to start the mechanism for reviving our economy. And it is very important for our Western partners to understand this now. This is a critical moment for Putin, and he has to be supported now. He should be supported now. It's up to them to decide how to support him. Putin will make suggestions in this regard. I have met him several times. He understands the problem; he is working on the possibilities of longer-term prospects. He is not here to prove either of the programs that have been suggested to him, the government's program or [Herman] Greff's program -- you know, the economist Greff -- or the program proposed by various regions of Russia. All of those programs are being considered now very thoroughly.
I have also made my suggestions. My main suggestion is if the longer-term prospect is that of stabilization, of ending the crisis, but paid for only by the ordinary people, as under Yeltsin, then things could go bad and he could lose support. The price that people paid for Yeltsin's reckless adventures was that 12 percent of the people benefited while all the others are now poor. The president has to bear this in mind, and I believe that he does take this into account.
We talked recently about how the social situation will be changing. What is the situation now? He told me that the calculations that had been presented to him indicate that there would not be a decline in the standards of living, that there would be progress. Even if there is no kind of improvement in the social situation, but the social situation is at least stable, while at the same time the economy is restarted, well, our people will accept that kind of price. Our people are really great. In other countries they would go to the streets. People do understand that they need to support the president in this difficult situation.
And finally my third point, we need to understand again the cooperation with Europe, the United States, and other countries. Putin is open to such cooperation. Those people who think that he is distancing himself from the West, that he doesn't understand, etc., they are totally wrong. Under Putin's leadership and control, the government is making proposals to the parliament on legislation to protect small and medium-sized business, to protect private property, a new investment law which will be good for Russian and foreign investors. So he is trying to do something, but it is very difficult. Putin became the leader of the country very unexpectedly. He doesn't have enough experience, but he is working. He is hardworking; he can learn. He doesn't have a real team for addressing these tasks, so this is also difficult. So a lot can be done, and our partners need to understand this -- not just pointing a finger at Russia.