[lbo-talk] Putin says collapse of USSR national tragedy

[" Chris Doss "]

Putin says collapse of USSR national tragedy
February 12, 2004

Moscow. (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the
collapse of the USSR is "a national tragedy of an enormous scale."

"I believe ordinary citizens of the former USSR and the current CIS
countries did not benefit from it. It created a lot of problems for
people," Putin said while meeting with his campaign representatives in
Moscow on Thursday.

The collapse of the USSR is, however, now history, Putin said.

"Today, we need to look at the reality we live in. We can't just look back
and complain about it," he said.

"There are some positive things about the situation we are in too," Putin
said. He believes that one of these things is that "Russia is no longer 'a
milk cow' for everyone."

"We fulfil our partners' requirements, taking their interests into account,
and we are entitled to demand that they take our interests into account as
well," he said.