В.Путин.Интервью украинским телеканалам. 2

Interview on Ukrainian Television Channels UT-1, Inter and 1 2 October 27, 2004 Kiev, Ukraine Интервью украинским телеканалам «УТ-1», «Интер» и «1 1» 26 октября 2004 года Киев QUESTION: But why precisely this year? Why was it not possible to do this, say, five years ago? VLADIMIR PUTIN: We were working towards this. As I already said, we settled the land border issue in January 2003, and later we signed an agreement on the Sea of Azov. We cleared up the debt question two years ago and agreed on the principles. Its not possible to say, therefore, that we have done everything just this year. That would not be correct. We worked towards this, dealing with one problem at a time, showing persistence and the will to achieve our objective, and we did achieve it. Now this is clear, also from the economic perspective, we can see it in how we have united our efforts and in the integration processes taking place. But all of this was built on a well-prepared foundation, a foundation that we spent the previous years building. QUESTION: We watch jealously what is going on in Russia, compare our wages, compare who is carrying out which reforms. In which areas do you think Ukraine has obtained the greatest success? And is there anything that you could take from our experience? VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, there are such areas and they are among the biggest priorities. Above all, this concerns the economic sphere. Living standards may differ in particular areas of Ukraine and Russia, but over the past years, and especially over this last year, Ukraine has shown very impressive economic growth, reaching growth rates of more than 13 percent, 13.4 percent, I think. This is not just a question of high growth rates. The government led by Viktor Yanukovich has gone further and has ensured that this is high-quality growth. In other words, development in the Ukrainian economy is taking place in many different sectors, the economy is diversified. This is something very valuable and it is a very good example. The Ukrainian government used many recipes to achieve this result. One that specialists point out is that the Ukrainian government managed to bring state spending within reasonable limits and at the same time concentrate financial resources on resolving primary social objectives such as raising pensions, for example. This is a very successful step forward. Of course this all deserves closer attention and is an example to follow. QUESTION: You said that Russia and Ukraine needed time to see themselves as fully independent states, and time was also needed for them to realise their national interests. Now we have the concept of the Common Economic Space. How does Russia see this in the strategic perspective? Will it be something like the Soviet Union, something like the European Union, or something else again? What are Russias national interests here? VLADIMIR PUTIN: No one is going to try to recreate the Soviet Union, no one is in a position to do so and no one makes it their aim. Any such attempt would be counterproductive and, unfortunately, would not bring any benefits. Many people in the post-Soviet area regret the loss of the Soviet Union, and they are right to feel this way, but since it has happened, we now need to act according to todays reality and look towards the future. We need to base ourselves on the situation in which we live today. The Common Economic Space is a concept and an idea, an idea of integration, above all economic integration. Our main goal here is to achieve free movement of labour, capital, goods and services. In other words, we want to create the conditions we need to effectively develop our economies, lower infrastructure expenses, reduce bureaucracy and give our citizens the chance to interact freely with each other. These are the objectives behind the creation of the Common Economic Space. HOST: The telephone centre is buzzing with action. Your questions are being taken and processed here. Whats unusual in this situation is that normally you only hear your interlocutor on the telephone, whereas here you can hear yourself speaking live and also hear, of course, the Russian Presidents response. So do call. I remind you that we are broadcasting live on three national television channels, Inter, 1 1 and UT-1. I also remind you that we have already had some 80,000 calls and that 25 questions are coming in every minute, although I think this figure has risen considerably since we began our live broadcast. We now have several people on the line and I know that we have a call from the Kiev region. QUESTION: A lot of people in Ukraine have stopped going to vote in elections. People dont believe they can have any influence on events by democratic means. This is a serious problem here. What is the situation like in Russia in this respect, and can you give us any advice in this situation?