Meeting with the Finalists of the Student Essay Competition My Home, My City, My Country.Part 1
June 5, 2003
The Kremlin, Moscow
Беседа с финалистами конкурса «Мой дом, мой город, моя страна»
5 июня 2003 года
Москва, Кремль
QUESTION: Your educational background and the nature of your current job rule out indifference to Russian history. In what epoch-making event in our countrys past would you have liked to take part? There have been many coups and other interesting events.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I would not have liked to take part in any coups. But in general I think life has always been more interesting in the periods of the countrys upsurge, prosperity and glory. There have been many periods of greatness in Russian history. And I would have liked to live in such times.
But speaking about transitional periods that are closest to us and whose results we feel to this day, I would name the February 1917 Revolution.
QUESTION: Have you grown disenchanted with your work by any chance?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: No, I havent. It is very interesting work. It involves a lot of responsibility. An earlier questioner spoke about crucial moments in the life of our country, and we are living through one such moment. So, everything we do is extremely important for today and for the future of Russia. In that sense a lot hinges on the quality of what we should accomplish today. It is interesting work.
QUESTION: You experience long periods of strain, the kind of stress that none of those present have probably ever experienced. Where do you draw your energy from? How do you recharge your batteries?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: From the awareness that the results of my work make a difference. I also do sports, as many people will probably know.
QUESTION: What are your literary tastes? What books have had the biggest influence on you?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I love reading about history. Russian classics. When I was a child at school I gulped down the novels by Dumas. As for modern literature, I read a little bit of our literature and something from West European literature. But I think our personalities are molded above all by our environment. Books are, of course, important. But the environment in which you live your family and friends is even more important.
QUESTION: Chances are that many people dont want to tell the President the truth or the whole truth. How do you cope with this kind of information blockade and from where do you get the true information?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I wouldnt say there was an information blockade, I think the problem lies elsewhere. We are inundated with information. The question is to tell true information from false. My advantage is that I have very many sources of information. When you compare the information from one source to that from another you see that if the information tallies then chances are it is true.
QUESTION: Do you treat your high position as a test or a gift of fate?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: As a test, of course. In spite of all the stresses and all the minuses that come with being a public personality, I have a very powerful compensation: the results of my work that I see.
QUESTION: Are you pleased with your team, the people who surround you?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I am not even pleased with myself, let alone my team. But I am pleased with you, with those who surround me now. Overall, though, I am not too pleased.
QUESTION: Are you in contact with your former classmates?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Rather infrequently these days, but regularly.
VOICE: Do you have more friends now?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I think I have fewer friends. My best friends are my school and university mates and colleagues with whom I have worked together. We have a long-standing friendship. I was friends with these people before I became a big boss and I am still friends with them. I hope these relations will endure.
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В.Путин.Интервью ведущему CNN,Ларри Кингу. 08.09.00 Part 4by niknikolay13,672 views
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