7 Annual Big Press Conference Part 15
February 14,2008
President of Russia V.Putin
The Kremlin,Moscow
REALNY BUSINESS: This victory of getting to host the Olympics. Russians have been used to always pay for their victories. Who will pay for the Winter Olympics? The state? Taxpayers? Investors? Will the 2014 Olympics be an investment project that brings dividends and investment to Russia? Or will it be another black hole in the budget up to 2014?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You didnt say you would go to Sochi to ski. Right you are, because the conditions there are not yet corresponding to world standards. And we want our resorts to be not only up to world standards but even better, and we have the opportunities to make them so. As in other sectors, if we buy equipment, we need to buy only the most modern equipment otherwise it does not make sense to buy at all.
Developing Southern Russia is a very important issue. We have a federal targeted programme for the development of Southern Russia. Many parts of Southern Russia are still depressed in terms of employment opportunities, production levels and so on, and yet this a very attractive part of the country. Russia is a northern country and we do not have many regions that offer an attractive climate. In this sense, Southern Russia is the number one region.
The biggest objective behind our battle to have Sochi chosen to host the Winter Olympics was not just a wish to hold the games in Russia and show the world that Russia is capable of organising the Olympics. The biggest objective of all is to develop Southern Russias infrastructure so that millions of our citizens can go there for holidays in summer and winter, enjoy themselves and spend their money inside their own country.
How will the allocated funding be spent? The sum we planned to spend on this project is, when calculated in US dollars, 12 billion and in reality the figure will probably end up higher. I want to stress that two thirds of this money will be spent on developing infrastructure: roads, bridges, tunnels, environmental measures, water supply. It is shameful to admit that Sochi does not yet have a normal sewerage system. Pipelines rupture every year there when the snow comes down from the mountains and there are electricity supply problems. Two thirds of the money the state is allocating will go on addressing all of these problems. Everything else will be financed either by private investment, both Russian and foreign, or on the basis of public-private partnerships. I hope very much that we will turn this part of the country into a model region that our people will come to year round for their holidays.
RIA NOVOSTI: Which of Russias problems have you found the most wearying and difficult to resolve over these last eight years?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Corruption
RIA NOVOSTI: What about your work schedule, what has been the most tiring thing there?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I cant say that any one thing in particular in my work schedule has been most tiring. My work schedule is very busy in general. My time comes down to work, sport and a little bit of leisure. I enjoy music, especially popular classical music. That is about all I have had time for over these last eight years. It has been something like a long business trip that has thrown me out of the normal circuit of life. But I cant say that there is anything that particularly irritated me in the work schedule. I tried to concentrate my resources on resolving the main tasks, the issues I had to deal with as head of state. If I thought that something was an important task, an important subject and important objective then it never annoyed me and on the contrary encouraged me to focus my attention even more sharply and mobilise my inner resources.
TF1 TELEVISION CHANNEL, FRANCE: I have two questions. We heard that there have been proposals to resume the tradition of military parades on Red Square. Has a Cold War spirit returned to relations with Washington?
And regarding your relations with Nicholas Sarkozy: you understand what kind of person he is, do you understand his policies, and what is your view of him?
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В.Путин.Выступление на Мюнхенской конференции.Part 2by niknikolay19,811 views
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