from kremlin.ru Moscow, the Kremlin June 20, 2003 press_office at prpress.gov.ru
Press conference with Russian and foreign journalists Press conference given by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
June 20, 2003 The Kremlin
President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
This is not the first time that we are meeting together like this in such a broad format. It is becoming a fine tradition that in the middle of the year we get together and you, the representatives of the press, get the chance to ask any questions that have come up over time. And I get the chance to answer your questions and explain what the federal authorities are doing regarding key development issues for Russia and also regarding international issues.
I won't spend any more time now on generalities. I am here at your disposal and I'm ready to answer any questions you have for me. Please go ahead.
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V. K. Dolzhenkova (Tomsky Vestnik newspaper): ... Mr. President, what are your thoughts on the opinion set out in the report by the Council for National Strategy that a certain oligarchic revolution is ripening in Russia and that the representatives of big business are seeking to integrate themselves into political power and in doing so, turn Russia from a presidential republic into a presidential-parliamentary republic?
Vladimir Putin: Concerning the influence of big business on the country's life, this influence is considerable. It's difficult, really, to imagine how it could be any other way in a country that has a market economy and has large companies. I don't think we should demonise anything here. If we look at the question from an optimistic angle, the big companies that work within the law are working for the good of the country. They are developing our economy, creating jobs and doing a lot to develop new technologies. These companies, as a rule, provide us with examples of very good and high-class management. They could be an example for many other sectors of the economy. In this sense, of course they have an influence on the economic and political life of the country.
If you take a look at what goes on in the State Duma during discussions on the budget and the various bills concerned with tax reform, if you take a bit of a plunge into the Duma's real life, then you will see that, say, the big oil companies are now actively lobbying against the tax on mineral resources because they say the government is putting too great a burden on them. I won't go into all the details now, but overall, the dialogue between business and the government should work towards finding the best possible solutions for the economy, for social issues and for all sectors of the Russian economy. This does not mean, of course, that we should let certain representatives of business influence the country's political life in the aims of pursuing their own group interests. This is why we have democratic institutions such as the parliament and the courts that act in accordance with the Constitution. This is also why we have the mass media. It is my deep conviction that over these last years, this much talked about idea of keeping the various representatives of business at equal distance from the political authorities has become reality. As for those who do not agree with this position, it's like they used to say, there's neither sight nor sound of them now.
As for the question of a presidential or a parliamentary republic, I think that given the way Russia is today, that is to say, a federation with a complex makeup and many different peoples and religions, any state system other than a presidential republic would be unacceptable and even dangerous.
In some countries, the parliamentary republic system works effectively. But I don't think it would be suitable for Russia. That's the first thing. The second thing is that I don't think we should cast doubt on the choice this country's people has made and deny people the chance to directly elect who they want to be the head of state.
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U. M. Saiyev (Republic of Chechnya, special correspondent for Gums newspaper): Mr. President, as you know, Chechnya has embarked on a complicated but hopefully stable process of returning to normal peaceful life. Unfortunately, many political parties only remember the North Caucasus region when an election is due. The only party today that is really showing a desire and ability to take part in the public and political life of Chechnya is United Russia.
In your opinion, what positive contribution could Russian political parties make to help bring lasting peace and civilised life back to Chechnya?
Vladimir Putin: Unfortunately it is true that many political forces only become active when elections are due. I'm very pleased to hear you mention one of them in a positive light. United Russia did indeed do a lot to help prepare for the referendum. That is the truth. And some of the party's activists, such as Frants Klintsevich, for example, went there, as far as I know, without any bodyguards, visited almost everywhere, met with people and explained the position of the federal authorities and the State Duma. In short, he worked directly with the voters, and I think that is deserving of support at the very least.
Coming back to what political parties can do, they can do a great deal. But we do need to give them their due for what they are doing. Without their active support, without the support of the main political forces in the parliament, it wouldn't have been possible to approve a whole series of important decisions for Chechnya.
In the political sphere, this concerns above all the decision on the amnesty. This was a difficult decision for the Duma. After all, this isn't the first amnesty, and it was not easy for the deputies to come to a decision, but they did.
On the economic side, many laws aimed at developing the republic have been passed, for example, the recent decision, approved by the Duma, to pay compensation of 14 billion roubles. That is an unprecedented large sum for Chechnya. I'm pleased to see that this was a conscious choice made by the Duma deputies. What I really would like to see, in Chechnya, as in the other regions of the Russian Federation, is for political life to become civilised in character and gather strength. I would like to see all the main political forces in the country represented in Chechnya, and I very much hope that this will be the case.
M. S. Simonian (Rossiya television channel): Mr. President, in a few days you will go on a state visit to Britain, one of the leading players on the international stage. On the one hand, Britain is the United States' closest partner, and on the other hand, it is one of the major countries in the European Union. What are your expectations for this visit?
Vladimir Putin: This will be a state visit. We have not made a visit like this to Britain in 150 years. On the one hand, it is good to make such a visit now, but on the other hand, it will involve following certain conventions. There will be a lot of protocol formalities, for such are the rules in the country that will host us. But there will also be a lot of substantial meetings, including a meeting with British Prime Minister Mr. Blair. He and I have a good and trusting contacts.
Britain is indeed one of our priority partners. It has one of the biggest economies in Europe. Its political activeness is immensely important for Europe and for the world as a whole. You no doubt remember the last visit the British prime minister made to Moscow. It looked then as though our meeting ended without producing any real result, but the result it did produce became the foundation for the Security Council resolution on Iraq that followed shortly afterwards. In fact, the main outlines of that resolution and our positions were coordinated here during that visit to Moscow.
We could not say all that then, because it was not yet clear whether the resolution would go through or not. It depended not only on Russia's and Britain's positions, but also on all the members of the Security Council, and there was still a lot of complicated work to do on coordinating positions.
I'm using the situation with Iraq as an example. Britain is a country of great significance for us, from the point of view of coordinating our positions on key international issues, our integration into the European economy, and our bilateral political and economic relations. I am sure that this visit will help develop our relations with Britain. --- M. K. Tumanova (TVC television): Vladimir Vladimirovich, you call on oligarchs to be patriotic. Tell me, have they heard your call? Has there been a major drop in the outflow of capital recently? And what, besides the financial component, do you understand by the concept "patriotic oligarchs"?
Vladimir Putin: You know, I don't really like the word "oligarch" used to describe big business representatives in Russia. In the sense that we usually use this word, an oligarch is a person with stolen money, who continues to plunder the national wealth, using his special access to bodies of power and administration.
I am doing everything to make sure this situation never repeats in Russia, and among big business representatives today, I do not see anyone who acts in this way. Perhaps some of them try. Probably everyone involved in business always looks for ways to earn more money, and to do this as effectively and cheaply as possible. Society's task, our common task – because both the state and the media should keep a very close eye on this – is to make sure this situation does not arise in the country.
As for patriotism, capital as such is not unpatriotic in itself. Capital always flows to where the best conditions exist for its use, whatever you might say or desire. So our task is above all to create such conditions, and not cry about the fact that capital is flowing out.
As for the outflow of capital, here two qualities of the outflow need to be distinguished. The first is the criminal outflow of capital. We are actively working on this both within the country and with our partners abroad. As you know, yesterday Russia became a full member of the FATF – an organisation which combats the laundering of dirty money. And I think that this is a good sign, it is an acknowledgement of Russia's efforts in this direction. Russia really does a great deal in this area.
The second quality is the legal outflow of capital. According to our assessments and assessments by international experts, in 1999 the yearly outflow of capital from Russia was $24.8 billion, and in 2002 according to preliminary data, it was $11.2 billion, i.e. this figure has dropped by more than half. This is a good sign. It shows that Russia is gradually creating conditions for investment here, in Russia.
We are seeing a certain inflow of capital. I should tell you that after the Federal Republic of Germany – I may be mistaken here, but not by much – the second country for investment in Russia is, strangely enough, Cyprus. I assure you, that this is the return of Russian capital that was taken out of the country in the past. And Russia is not unique here. In all regions of the world, at all times, if after a period of outflow of capital, acceptable, favourable conditions for investment are created in a country, the repatriation of capital begins. We are seeing this return, so far in small volumes, but noticeable ones. And this is a pleasing fact, a positive phenomenon.
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A. L. Batalov (Grozny-Inform information agency, Republic of Chechnya): Mr. President, presidential elections are set to be held soon in Chechnya. Does the Kremlin already have a candidate that it intends to support?
Vladimir Putin: This is a very sensitive question. When the decision was taken to organise a referendum on the constitution, many thought we shouldn't go ahead with it, said that the time was not yet right and questioned as to whether people in Chechnya are ready yet for elections. The question was would people even come to vote? The easiest way to vote against what the constitution proposed, after all, was simply not to come to the polling booth. No one can force someone to vote after all, no one can drag the voters in. If someone doesn't want to vote, they just don't turn up, and there's nothing more to it. To be frank, there was a big risk for the federal authorities that people would not come. And then I said to myself that if they didn't come and vote, that would show us that we're not going in the right direction and have been wasting our efforts. At least then we would be able to draw some fitting conclusions, because in any case, we could not put things off any longer. The results, as you know, were far beyond all our expectations, and even beyond expectations in Chechnya itself. Eighty percent of the voters came to the polling booths, despite attempts by bandits to intimidate them. It's hard in general to intimidate the Chechens, and I think that people made a conscious choice, regardless of who tried to put pressure on them there.
Of course, now people are also saying that it's too early yet to go ahead with presidential elections in Chechnya. The decision of who to elect belongs to the Chechen people. The constitution allows elections to go ahead once six months has gone by since its approval, and I will create no obstacle to having the elections go ahead in the time that Chechnya itself decides. I don't think there should be too much waiting, despite all the difficulties that an election campaign period could bring up. It's clear that the situation will become tenser, but the situation gets tenser everywhere during elections. There is, of course, the danger that this will take on particular, shall we say, not exactly civilised forms in Chechnya. But the quicker a legitimate government is put in place, the better it will be for the people. I have no doubt about this, because it will enable us to complete the process of handing over power to the regional authorities in Chechnya, including full control over the Chechen Interior Ministry. This is very important in order to have the Chechen people take over the responsibility of looking after law and order in the republic. That's to say nothing of the need to get the economy on its feet, create new jobs and so on.
But as for the question of supporting particular people, I have already spoken about this with people who have the respect of the Chechen population and do not hold any formal official post, and with the acting president and former deputies of the former parliament, and I can repeat now what I said. Personally, I would like to see in power someone who will have the support of the population, because without this support it won't be possible to carry out effective policies in Chechnya, and this is the main and most important issue for us. Whoever the Chechen people elect as their leader, this is the person we will recognise and will work with.
Question (ITAR-TASS): It looks as though the differences of opinion with the United States over Iraq are now a thing of the past, but do you think there is a risk of the Iraq scenario repeating itself in Iran or North Korea? And do you think there is a mechanism in the world that can prevent events from developing in this way?
Vladimir Putin: Yes, the situation with Iraq really was a serious test for Russian-U.S. relations, and I agree that we have managed to emerge from this situation with minimal losses. I think that we managed to find compromise solutions through the United Nations Security Council and have got the United Nations much more involved in this issue again. We discussed this question in detail with the U.S. president, and we also discussed the situation with Iran, North Korea and other hot spots on the planet.
If we're looking at a mechanism for settling complicated issues such as these, our position is clear: this mechanism exists in the form of the United Nations and its Security Council. There is no other such universal mechanism in the world today. I believe that only through the United Nations can we resolve these kinds of problems, by being patient, working together, taking each other's interests into account and acting in accordance with international law. ---- Reuters: You said that your Government's work is satisfactory. But nevertheless, judging by surveys and the vote of no confidence in parliament this week, there are still a large number of people who are not happy with the Government's work.
Do you think that this may influence your actions, especially if you decide to run for President next year?
Vladimir Putin: Firstly, I haven't yet said that I will decide to run for President. This is premature. This pre-election fuss and excitement is pointless, I have a lot of other concerns at the moment. I am also trying to incline the Government towards constructive work, so that it doesn't get involved in the pre-electoral situation which is developing in connection with the upcoming State Duma elections. As for the future presidential elections, they are next year. There should be no fuss or hurry here. The time will come when the pre-election period is announced, and I will make my decision.
As for the motion of a vote of no confidence in the Government, which was put to the Duma, as you know the Duma did not support this motion. This is the answer to your question. But I should say that I am not happy with everything, of course. And I will take into account the results of work by the Government. Every year, we make corrections to our work. I meet with Government leadership on Mondays. And what we show on television is one thing, what we don't show is somewhat different, I assure you. Our talks can sometimes become quite heated. We try to react efficiently to everything happening in the life of the country.
I proudly cited the figure of 7.1% - the growth of the economy, a very high figure. If you compare it with what is going on in Western Europe, and in the United States, it is a very high growth rate. As you know, in the leading countries of Western Europe the growth of the economy this year is unlikely to reach 1%. We have 7.1%. But we realise how we achieve this result: thanks to a favourable external economic situation, and the prices of energy resources. And we discuss this directly and openly at our meetings, with a detailed analysis of the economic situation in the country.
But the positive elements must also be noted. I talked of an increase of 11% in the growth of investment in main capital. This is the result of activity by the Government. Consumer import here has grown over the first five months of this year by 16% - this is what we bring into the country for consumption. And investment import, that which is brought in by domestic entrepreneurs for expansion and renewal of production, creation of new enterprises and new work places, has increased by 36%. This is a very good figure.
So there are things to criticise the Government for, but it also has things which should be seen positively, and it should be supported in these directions. --- A. A. Ershov (Krasnodarskie Izvestiya): Well, firstly we would like to invite you to Sochi for a holiday, according to tradition.
Vladimir Putin: All right.
A. A. Ershov: During the American-Iraq war, and prior to it, the Russian press reported that experts – both military and counterintelligence – had informed you that the war would last a long time, and that we would gain various advantages from this. But the reality is that everything ended very quickly. Where are these experts now?
Vladimir Putin: How do you know what counter-intelligence agents reported to me? I will ask Patrushev to investigate you thoroughly.
But seriously speaking, counter-intelligence agents report the situation on the war on terrorism, the war on internal threats, the war on spying. The experts you had in mind work in internal intelligence bodies, at the Main intelligence department of the General Staff and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I can tell you that before the events in Iraq, they prepared an analysis which fully coincided, I would like to stress this, with the way that events developed. In full. Almost down to the day. It will also be no secret from our American partners, our intelligence recorded every launch, and take-off of every plane, every hit and miss of every rocket, and possible target. In this sense, our intelligence services worked very reliably and effectively.
The decisions that I took on the development of the situation in Iraq were based on this reliable information. These decisions and our position were not connected with the fact that according to our data, the war should be ended quite quickly, bearing in mind the military potential of the United States, their allies and the virtual lack of a military potential in Iraq, whatever people used to say. We knew the real state of the armed forces.
Our position on Iraq was not based on who would win, but with what means we have the right to solve conflicts of this kind. You know our position, it has not changed.
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