Putin pleased to call Bush his friend
I absolutely agree with the president of the United States when he says that
not only have the USA and Russia stopped being enemies and adversaries, they
have become partners. I fully subscribe to this and I am pleased to call the
president of the USA, who, in my view, is a serious politician and a very decent person, my friend.
When we express our opinions, even when these differ from those of others, this does not cause such a strong reaction as the opinion of a member of the
Western community, when they start expressing their own opinion. Here everything is viewed differently. I think that members of the Western community are not only insisting on their position on Iraq but also on their
right to have their own position. But, I repeat, the earlier we accept the depth of the changes that have taken place in the world the better.
Fighting in Chechnya supported by international terrorism
[Presenter] The interview could not pass without questions being asked on Chechnya. The French traditionally keep track of this topic, habitually making use of the construction "the Chechen war".
[Putin] You are totally inaccurate in the expression you have used. You said
that a tough and uncompromising war has been in progress for four years. There is no war there. The major terrorist groups have been destroyed. Their
infrastructure has been destroyed. They are still capable of launching individual strikes and committing acts of terrorism, but that is all they are capable of. And this capability of theirs will gradually disintegrate into nothing.
That bands of international terrorists are active in Chechnya, it seems to me, no longer requires further substantiation. There aren't any Al-Qa'idah camps left there, but Al-Qa'idah's money is still there and at work. There are instructors who are working there. There are mercenaries from a string of Muslim countries, recruited by radicals. Unfortunately, all this is still there, and, of course, we will be waging a tough and uncompromising fight with these people in pursuit of their utter destruction. There must be no doubt on this point.
At the same time, we understand that, in provoking us into specific tough measures, the terrorists are exposing the civilian population. And I don't want to say that there are no problems there, or that there haven't been any
problems of that kind there. Of course, when military action is in progress,
or operations are in progress in the fight against terrorism, civilians may suffer, and sometimes do. And it is our aim to keep these negative consequences to a minimum. And, in this regard, we understand the concern of
our partners in Europe, including France. Incidentally, the French leadership paid a great deal of attention to Chechnya during our discussions today [11 February].
But I would repeat that it is an obvious fact that the terrorists who are active there are linked to Al-Qa'idah and to international terrorism, and this was, incidentally, also confirmed recently by the French special services, when, in France, then in Germany, in Italy and in Great Britain, terrorists who were planning acts of terrorism, including with the use of chemical and biological weapons, were detained, terrorists who had undergone
relevant training on the territory of Chechnya. This is a fact which does not require further substantiation.
But our aim there is not just to fight terrorism. Our aim is to resolve the problem by peaceful political means with the Chechen people, so that the Chechen people are not used as an instrument for the fulfilment of objectives which have nothing in common with the interests of the Chechen people. We have supported the initiative of the Chechen public, and will now be moving over to a process of peaceful settlement. As the first stage in this process, the start of this process, we plan to hold a referendum on the adoption of a
constitution for the Chechen Republic.