7 Annual Big Press Conference Part 25
February 14,2008
President of Russia V.Putin
The Kremlin,Moscow
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I am in a position to objectively evaluate my contribution to this issue, to the fact that Sochi was chosen as the capital of the Olympic Games. Of course I did contribute. But the most important thing is not that I came to Guatemala and actively campaigned for Sochi. The most important thing is something else, namely the way that Russia has changed, and that its economic, social and political stability has proven that it can accomplish these tasks. And I was particularly pleased (I do not know if have I said this or not, and by the way, this refers to the question how we are seen abroad), that this was a theme during conversations with many members of the IOC and I didn't even encourage them to say this. Do you know what I was especially pleased to hear? When I started to speak of the beauty of Sochi, the advantages of the city, they listened to me and, you know, many of them ended our conversation with almost the same sentence: «We want to support the Russia that you have created, we need Russia. I will vote for you and spend the rest of my time persuading my colleagues to vote for Sochi.» This was the dearest thing for me.
So the choice of Sochi is not simply the result of my trip to Guatemala, it is the result of all our activities over the past eight years.
As to things becoming more expensive, of course such concerns exist. We need to ensure that there is no theft. It is for this reason that I established a special group headed by the Prosecutor General's Office, and it is for this reason the Accounting Chamber formulated certain plans. And it is also because of this that we should establish reliable public control over the expenditures of state funds. The fear that something could be stolen cannot be a justification for not doing anything. We simply need to implement controls, be efficient and effective.
ALEKSEI GROMOV: I don't think a colleague from Greece has ever spoken at a press conference. Please go ahead.
ATHENS NEWS AGENCY: Clarifications on two topics. You already made a parallel between the situation in Kosovo and that in Cyprus. Do you not think that this comparison is somewhat contradictory? You strictly require that UN and Security Council resolutions be observed. In, for example, the case of Kosovo, we have an international protectorate with Russian consent, whereas in Cyprus there is a Security Council resolution which has not changed concerning the occupied territories in northern Cyprus. How should we understand your answer, what should we expect?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You should understand that we are in favour of the respect of the fundamental principles of international law, and that state sovereignty and territorial integrity are at the basis of this regime. And in this sense we have the same approach to the problem of Cyprus as to the issue of Kosovo. There is a resolution that states that Serbia has the right to territorial integrity, and we must accept that. The same applies to Cyprus: it should be a unified state and we support this. There is no contradiction here. The contradiction comes from something else: if Europe applies a set of rules in one place and other rules in another, and does so in the interests of any one country or group of countries, then we will have chaos and it will be awful.
ATHENS NEWS AGENCY: Vladimir Vladimirovich, may I ask for the second clarification?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Please go ahead.
ATHENS NEWS AGENCY: Recently Mrs Clinton said that as a former KGB officer, by definition, you do not have a soul. How would your soul or what, Mrs Clinton suggests, replaces it, react to such a statement?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I think that at the very least a statesman should have a head. And in constructing intergovernmental relations one should be guided not by feelings, but rather by the fundamental interests of one's country. I think (and have already talked about this) that it is in the interests of both Russia and the United States to ensure that relations between our two countries develop positively and that relations between our countries are such that they allow us to solve the problems we are facing in the fields of security, disarmament, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, disease and so on. And we need a constructive dialogue for this. Russia wants to do this. And as to how the American leadership plans to develop its relations with Russia, especially the one yet to be, I do not know: you'll have to ask them.
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9:32В.Путин.Интервью телеканалу ОРТ 07.02.00 Part 5by niknikolay17,638 views
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