On the Kremlin's agenda, the meeting marked the end of a week of intensive public relations work. Previously, Russia had sent the West a clear political signal when Putin's military officers test-fired two new missiles in a much-touted PR event. The message was that the Kremlin would no longer accept exclusion by the United States and NATO. For the first time, Putin spoke publicly of a "new arms race." Nine months before the end of his term in office, Vladimir Putin offers his countrymen the picture of an isolated Russia. America has been written off as a possible partner, at least for the time being, and the Russians have little trust in the Germans these days. The word in Moscow is that the West can no longer be convinced to abandon its erroneous image of Russia. Friday evening at Novo-Ogaryovo was the last attempt, for the time being, to bridge East and West once again. QUESTION: Mr. President, it looks as though Russia has lost its fondness for the West. Your relations with Germany have deteriorated, and those with the United States even more so. Are we moving towards another Cold War? Putin: In international affairs and relations between the states, one can hardly be using any terminology which would be appropriate in the relations between people -- especially during the honeymoon or just before a man and a woman plan on going to church to register their marriage. In relations between the states ... the interests of the country should be correlated with the interests of other countries, and compromise is to be found when resolving the most complex issues. The largest complexity today is that some of the participants in the international dialogue believe that their ideas are the ultimate truth. This does not facilitate the creation of an atmosphere of trust. We should not be dramatizing the situation. If we are expressing our position in an open and fair way, it doesn't mean we are looking for a confrontation. I am absolutely convinced we should re-establish in the international arena the practice of not simply fair and honest discussion, but also the skill of finding compromise -- this would be to the benefit of everyone. Some crises which the international community has had to face would not have been possible in such a case, and they would not have been as detrimental to the internal political situation of some countries. Even the events in Iraq would not give cause for such a headache for the United States. You remember that we were opposing the military actions in Iraq. We are still convinced that the goals which were in front of us at the time, they could have been attained through different means. And the results in my view would have been better than the one we are seeing today.
Nine months before the end of his term in office, Vladimir Putin offers his countrymen the picture of an isolated Russia. America has been written off as a possible partner, at least for the time being, and the Russians have little trust in the Germans these days. The word in Moscow is that the West can no longer be convinced to abandon its erroneous image of Russia. Friday evening at Novo-Ogaryovo was the last attempt, for the time being, to bridge East and West once again.
QUESTION: Mr. President, it looks as though Russia has lost its fondness for the West. Your relations with Germany have deteriorated, and those with the United States even more so. Are we moving towards another Cold War?
Putin: In international affairs and relations between the states, one can hardly be using any terminology which would be appropriate in the relations between people -- especially during the honeymoon or just before a man and a woman plan on going to church to register their marriage. In relations between the states ... the interests of the country should be correlated with the interests of other countries, and compromise is to be found when resolving the most complex issues.
The largest complexity today is that some of the participants in the international dialogue believe that their ideas are the ultimate truth. This does not facilitate the creation of an atmosphere of trust. We should not be dramatizing the situation. If we are expressing our position in an open and fair way, it doesn't mean we are looking for a confrontation. I am absolutely convinced we should re-establish in the international arena the practice of not simply fair and honest discussion, but also the skill of finding compromise -- this would be to the benefit of everyone. Some crises which the international community has had to face would not have been possible in such a case, and they would not have been as detrimental to the internal political situation of some countries. Even the events in Iraq would not give cause for such a headache for the United States. You remember that we were opposing the military actions in Iraq. We are still convinced that the goals which were in front of us at the time, they could have been attained through different means. And the results in my view would have been better than the one we are seeing today.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: (laughs) Am I a `pure democrat'? Of course I am, absolutely. But do you know what the problem is? Not even a problem but a real tragedy? The problem is that I'm all alone, the only one of my kind in the whole wide world. Just look at what's happening in North America, it's simply awful: torture, homeless people, Guantanamo, people detained without trial and investigation. Just look at what's happening in Europe: harsh treatment of demonstrators, rubber bullets and tear gas used first in one capital then in another, demonstrators killed on the streets. That's not even to mention the post-Soviet area. Only the guys in Ukraine still gave hope, but they've completely discredited themselves now and things are moving towards total tyranny there; complete violation of the Constitution and the law and so on. There is no one to talk to since Mahatma Gandhi died. .... GLOBE AND MAIL: If NATO had advantages in terms of missile defence, it could perhaps be of use? The U.S. is taking unilateral action, but if NATO were to get involved instead it would not look like an imperialist step. Everything might look different if NATO or Russia were to become involved in these missile defence plans. VLADIMIR PUTIN: If NATO were involved this would not fundamentally change anything because we know how decisions are made in NATO. They were made in the same way in the Warsaw Pact. There was a joke in East Germany: How can you tell which of the telephones on Honecker's desk is the direct line to Moscow? Do you know this joke? DER SPIEGEL: No. VLADIMIR PUTIN: The answer is: it's the one with only a receiver and no mouthpiece. (Laughter). The same goes for NATO, except that the telephone line goes not to Moscow in this case but to Washington, and so it would make no difference to us if NATO were heading this project. ....
.... GLOBE AND MAIL: If NATO had advantages in terms of missile defence, it could perhaps be of use? The U.S. is taking unilateral action, but if NATO were to get involved instead it would not look like an imperialist step. Everything might look different if NATO or Russia were to become involved in these missile defence plans.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: If NATO were involved this would not fundamentally change anything because we know how decisions are made in NATO. They were made in the same way in the Warsaw Pact. There was a joke in East Germany: How can you tell which of the telephones on Honecker's desk is the direct line to Moscow? Do you know this joke?
DER SPIEGEL: No.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The answer is: it's the one with only a receiver and no mouthpiece. (Laughter).
The same goes for NATO, except that the telephone line goes not to Moscow in this case but to Washington, and so it would make no difference to us if NATO were heading this project.
....
Comparing the Europeans to Honecker - that has to hurt!
Too bad that he cannot actually be a democrat himself, he would be impossible to ignore then.
But these digs cut too close to the bone to be part of an elaborate dance between Washington and Moscow to re-create a new Cold War that fits both leaders' domestic purposes. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
