Summarized from RTVi and Echo of Moscow
This week’s big news was president Putin’s press conference. 3 hours 32 minutes. 68 questions and answers. 1232 journalists, a quarter of them foreign.
Two questions which drew the attention of alternative media journalists were the 2008 presidential elections and Litvinenko, who’s poisoning the president called unnecessary.
The 2008 presidential elections are a source of constant consternation for Mr. Putin. With constant talk of his “preeyemnik,” or successor, which in Russian literally connotes one who directly assumes power/responsibility from another (implying lack of democratic elections), Putin was visibly irritated when he was asked in three different ways about his successor and his own plans after he steps down.
“There will be no successors. There will be candidates for president… as a Russian citizen, and one who is proud of it, I reserve the right to give my support to a particular candidate or candidates.”
Some had speculated that Putin will amend the Constitution (one possible scenario involved Belorus and Russia merging into a single, new country, which would necessitate a new Constitution, though now that option is clearly impossible), or come up with some sort of ruse to stay for a third term. The president enjoys immense popularity, is relatively young and in good health and many groups and citizens have called for him to stay in office beyond his second term. By now, however, the president has stated in unequivocal terms that he will not remain in power when his term is up. A move that is necessary if he wants to be taken seriously by the rest of the world. Some have speculated that he will exert influence on the new president and then run again in 2012, which is not prohibited by the Constitution.
The president called former KGB/FSB agent Litivinenko’s poisoning unnecessary. Interestingly, Russia has said that it will not extradite Scotland Yard’s primary suspect in the case – Andrei Lugovoi, a former FSB operative who met with Litvinenko on the day he fell ill. According to Valeriya Novgorodskaya, chairwoman of the Democratic Union party, “while Lugovoi may have perpetrated the poisoning, we may never know who actually ordered it.”
Moscow
RTVi News (Andrei Norkin newscaster, Arkadii Myedvyedyev, reporter)
Norkin: President Putin’s 6th press conference. First impressions.
Much like in last conferences, the president joked and did not show any signs of fatigue. He gave detailed answers to comfortable questions and skillfully avoided the rest.
Myedvyedyev: Putin corrected journalists by pointing out that he does not rule, but works. He also called on all branches of the governmentt to consolidate before the 2008 elections, so there is no repeat of the mid 1990’s scenario “when the country stood still because each branch pulled the country in its own direction, like the swan, the lobster and the pike,” (a reference to the famous Russian fable).
Moreover, the president said that there will be no successor, there will be candidates for president. Putin will say which one he supports during the run-offs. In response to questions from foreign journalists about the persecution of Russian journalists, the president noted that it is a serious problem:
“We realize our responsibility for this and will do all we can to protect the journalistic enterprise.”
In more than three hours of answering questions, Putin became stumped only once when he was asked a question by Maria Solovenko, a journalist from Vladivostok. “Unmatched Vladimir Vladimirovich” she began to chuckles from the audience, “You are embarassing me” replied the president. “It’s my pleasure, a woman is supposed to embarrass a man” she answered.
Nothing was asked about the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, though at the end Putin noted that the two countires should resume production of port “Adam” to smooth things out.
2.2.07. RTVi/Echo of Moscow joint show “Unique Opinion” Host: Matvyei Ganapol’skii, Guest: Nikolai Svanidze
According to Svanidze, the host of the popular political show “Zerkalo” (Mirror), there were two things of note in the president’s press conference:
1) The president was apparently “less enthusiastic about answering questions related to politics, and derived more satisfaction from answering ones about social and economic issues.”
2)To the question about pluses and minuses of his presidency, he pointed to the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor. But, since no one, anywhere has managed to solve this problem, it did not make the president look bad.
2.1.07
Here is how Valeriya Novodvorskaya, chairwoman of the Democratic Union party summed up the president’s speech on the “Unique Opinion” radio/TV show:
“Everything is swell. Big brother is looking out for you, everything’s going good, we have gas, oil is flowing, Litvinenko was unnecsitraly poisoned. And the main thing – the president is the one who possesses power and accepts responsibility.”
Disclaimer: Though a native speaker of Russian, I am not a professional translator and do not
guarantee the accuracy of my translations. I am not affiliated with any organization and the opinions expressed
on this blog are strictly my own.
Tags:
Constitution,
preeyemnik,
president of Russia,
President Putin,
press,
Russia
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