President Vladimir Putin on
Thursday gave an exclusive interview to the Financial Times newspaper, a rarity
for a president who seldom sits down with foreign journalists.
The Russian president spoke candidly on a
wide range of topics, from Russia’s domestic and foreign policy issues to his
thoughts on the global trend of national populism and who will succeed him
after the end of his term limit in 2024.
In one particularly vivid
comment, Putin said liberal values had outlived their purpose and had been
rejected by the majority of people in Western nations, drawing criticism from
Western leaders.
Here are the highlights from
the far-reaching discussion:
On Trump
— “I think that he is a
talented person. He knows very well what his voters expect from him.”
— “The middle class in the
United States has not benefited from globalization; it was left out when this pie
was divided up. The Trump team sensed this very keenly and clearly. It is where
you should look for the reasons behind Trump’s victory.”
On China and Chinese-Russian
relations
— “We [Russia and China] never
direct our bilateral relations against anyone. We are not against anyone, we
are for ourselves.”
— Yes, Russia and China have
many coinciding interests, this is true… Of course, we have also established
very warm personal relations, and this is natural.”
NEWS
— “You try to rule a country
with such a population. This is not Luxembourg, with all due respect to that
wonderful country.”
On North Korea
— “What we should be talking
about is not how to make North Korea disarm, but how to... make any country,
including North Korea, feel safe and protected by international law that is
strictly honored by all members of the international community.”
— “... the North Korean nuclear
range is not far away from our border. This why this concerns us directly, and
we never stop thinking about it.”
On Russia’s presence in Syria
— “I decided that the positive
effect from our active involvement in Syrian affairs for Russia would far
outweigh non-interference and passive observation of how an international
terrorist organization grows ever stronger near our borders.”
— “We have managed to preserve
Syrian statehood, no matter what, and we have prevented Libya-style chaos
there. And a worst-case scenario would spell out negative consequences for
Russia.”
— “[If] Assad steps down today,
what will happen tomorrow? When you do not know what happens tomorrow, why
shoot from the hip today?”
On the Russia-U.S. arms race
— “We said that we are ready to
hold talks and to extend this treaty between the United States and Russia, but
we have not seen any relevant initiative from our American partners.”
— “We will support any
agreement that can advance our cause, that is, help us contain the arms race.”
On the Venezuela crisis
— “We have no nothing to do
with what is happening in Venezuela.”
— “We provide maintenance
services for this equipment [in Venezuela] ...There are no Russian troops
there.”
— “We have invested billions of
dollars there, mostly in the oil sector. So what? Other countries are doing the
same as well.”
On the Skripal poisonings and
Russian-British relations
— “All this fuss about spies
and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations.”
— “...these spy scandals made
our relations reach a deadlock so we could not develop our ties normally and
support businesspeople.”
NEWS
— “Treason is the gravest crime
possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying that the Salisbury
incident is the way to do it. Not at all. But traitors must be punished.”
On Russia’s economy and
oligarchs
— “The most important task we
need to achieve is to change the structure of the economy and secure a
substantial growth of labor productivity through modern technologies,
artificial intelligence, robotics and so on.”
— “We do not have oligarchs
anymore. Oligarchs are those who use their proximity to the authorities to
receive super profits.”
On the Western world,
liberalism and traditional values
— “The liberal idea has become
obsolete. It has come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming
majority of the population.”
— “[It] presupposes that
nothing needs to be done. The migrants can kill, plunder and rape with impunity
because their rights as migrants must be protected. What rights are these?
Every crime must have its punishment.”
— “Deep inside, there must be
some fundamental human rules and moral values. In this sense, traditional
values are more stable and more important for millions of people than this
liberal idea, which, in my opinion, is really ceasing to exist.”
On his successor
— "No
matter what the current leader does and how he does it, not matter who he
represents or how, it is the voter that has the final word — the citizen of the
Russian Federation.”
— “[A successor will be chosen]
by means of a direct secret ballot, universal direct secret ballot. Of course,
it is different from what you have in Great Britain. We are a democratic
country.”
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