A TSAR IS BORN

How do you see the relationship between Russia and the U.S., going forward?
Russia and the U.S. were allies during the Second and the First World Wars, which allows us to think there\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s something objectively bringing us together in difficult times. Today to be successful, one must be able to reach agreements. The ability to compromise is not a diplomatic politeness but rather taking into account and respecting your partner\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s legitimate interests.

 

Can you give an example?
The North Korean nuclear issue. We treated the issue very seriously. We were thinking about each other\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s interests and about the interests of the country in question. In the end we resolved the issue to a large extent.

 

What should be done in Iraq?
From the very beginning, I considered that it was a mistake. As for what we do today and in the near future, overall I agree with President Bush that everything must be done so that the Iraqi authorities are able to deal with security issues on their own. What we differ over is that the U.S. believes it is impossible to impose time frames for the withdrawal. In my view, that would prompt the Iraqi authorities to be more proactive.

 

Americans wonder why the recent Russian elections could not have been more open and why, for example, Garry Kasparov was put in jail.
Why did Mr. Kasparov, when arrested, speak out in English rather than Russian? When a politician works the crowd of other nations rather than the Russian nation, it tells you something.

 

Do you think the U.S. wants to see a strong Russia or a weak Russia?
I believe the U.S. already understands that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the U.S.

 

What is NATO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s purpose today? If Russia were invited to join, would it do so?
I wouldn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t call NATO a putrid corpse of the Cold War, but it is a leftover of the past. How can NATO efficiently fight terrorism? Did it stop the terrorists on 9/11? Where was NATO then? Russia has no intention of joining military-political blocs because that would be tantamount to restricting its sovereignty.

 

One of the perceptions that Americans have about Russia is that corruption is endemic. How do you handle that?
Badly. I must say that in the transitional economy, it is difficult to address such problems. But I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m fully convinced that down the road, [they] will be tackled more efficiently.

 

What role does faith play in your leadership?
First and foremost, we should be governed by common sense. But common sense should be based on moral principles first. And it is not possible today to have morality separated from religious values.

 

How does a lifelong KGB man raised in the Soviet Union become a believer in free markets?
One doesn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t have to be a particularly bright highbrow to see the obvious, that the market economy has major advantages over an administrative system. We have had GDP growth of about 7% a year on average over the past seven or eight years. We have paid off all our debt. Real income growth is about 12% for the population, and for me, that is the main achievement.

 

You must feel lucky that the price of oil is so high.
Fools are lucky. We work day and night!

 

The government has arrested some ?Russian industrialists and seized their assets. Why?
Well, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Thou shalt not steal.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" They didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t have difficulties with me. They had difficulties with the people of the country and with the law.

 

Has your KGB training helped you as President? There\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s an old saying \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Once a spy, always a spy.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Well, those are lies. Naturally, some of that background can be of help. They taught me to think independently. They taught me to gather objective information, first and foremost. The second thing, from working in intelligence, is learning the skill of working with people. Above all, to respect the people you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re dealing with.

 

In Russia, a number of journalists have been murdered. Is there some kind of pattern? Is there something that you or the government can do to prevent it?
First, many people, including journalists, are tempted to make a little bit more money here and there, which means they get involved with entrepreneurs, sometimes with criminal businessmen. Then there are genuine fighters against corruption, against the criminal elements. Where such losses have occurred, I take them personally.

 

What do you think are American misconceptions about Russia?
Well, you know, I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t believe these are misconceptions. I think this is a purposeful attempt by some to create an image of Russia based on which one could influence our internal and foreign policies. This is the reason why everybody is made to believe, like, it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s O.K. to pinch the Russians somewhat. They are a little bit savage still, or they just climbed down from the trees and probably need to have their hair brushed and their beards trimmed.

 

Can you tell us more about Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev?
They moved toward destruction of the system that no longer could sustain the Soviet people. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m not sure I could have had the guts to do that myself. This is a very important change. It gave Russia her freedom.

 

What about the conflicts you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve had with former Soviet republics on gas prices?
What conflicts? There are world prices for gas. Why should we sell to anyone below the world-market prices? Do Americans? Could you come to a store in the U.S. and ask, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Well, I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m from Canada. We Canadians are close neighbors. Give me that Chrysler at half price\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"? What would you hear from the salesman? \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Go away!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

 

President George W. Bush said he looked into your eyes and got a sense of your soul. Have you gotten a sense of his soul?
I consider him a very reliable partner, a man of honor. Yes, Iraq was a mistake, but he is a fair and honest man.

 

Do you think there was a missed opportunity after 9/11 for the U.S. and Russia to work more closely on the anti?terrorism front because of Iraq?
We could have acted in a more coordinated and therefore more efficient way. That is true. But cooperation between our secret services is happening and is achieving results.

 

Can you describe this cooperation? Are there institutional structures that exist between American and Russian intelligence in the field of fighting terrorism? Yes, the so-called partnership channels. And recently the work has been quite successful, including cooperation to prevent terrorist acts against the citizens of the Russian Federation and the U.S. I recently discussed this with President Bush over the telephone.

 

Earlier you used the phrase Thou shalt not steal. Have you read the Bible?
Yes, I have. And the Bible is on my plane.

 

Do you use e-mail? Do you blog?
Well, it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s a big shame. I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t use these technologies. I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t even use a telephone. My staff do it for me. But they do it wonderfully.

沙皇的诞生（5/6)普京精彩问答

Q:你如何看待俄罗斯和美国之间的关系？

 

P:俄罗斯和美国在两次世界大战都是盟友，显然有些客观的东西在不同的时候把我们带到一起。在今天要成功，必须要跟他人达成一致。妥协不是外交政策，而是真正考虑到而且尊重合作伙伴的利益。

 

Q能举个例子吗？

 

P北朝鲜核危机。我们认真对待这个问题。我们考虑各方的利益。最后我们在很大程度上解决了这个问题。

 

Q在伊拉克应该咋办？

 

P一开始我就认为这是一个错误。我完全同意布什总统的观点：关于只要伊拉克政府能够保证它自己的安全，任何事情都值得一做。我们的分歧在于--美国认为不可能制定一个撤军时间表。我认为这样会使伊拉克当局更加无能。

 

Q美国人想知道为是么俄罗斯最近的选举不能更加公开，为是么加里卡斯帕罗夫会被捕？

 

  P为何卡斯帕罗夫先生在被捕的时候说的是英语而不是俄语？一个政治家是为别国而不是俄罗斯工作，这很能说明问题。

 

Q你认为美国是想看到一个强大的俄罗斯还是一个虚弱的俄罗斯

 

P我相信美国已经认识到只有一个强大的俄罗斯才真正符合它的利益。

 

Q北约存在的目的今天是什么？如果邀请俄罗斯加入北约，俄罗斯会加入吗？

 

P我不想把北约称为冷战留下的一具尸体，但是它确实过时了。

北约如何有效的与恐怖主义斗争？它能阻止911恐怖袭击吗？那时候北约在哪？俄罗斯不想加入任何军事政治联盟，因为那样会限制它的主权。

 

Q美国人对俄罗斯的一个印象是腐败横行？您如何处理？

 

P确实很糟糕。

我不得不说在经济转型期，很难解决这个问题。

我确信，只要继续走下去，能够得到更加有效的处理。

 

Q在您的领导中信仰的地位如何？

 

P始终要牢记的是，我们应该用常识来治理

常识首先应该建立在道德的基础上。

今天不可能把道德跟宗教分开。

 

Q一个职业克格勃是如何成为自由市场经济的信奉者的？

 

P一个人不需要特别聪明才能够看出这显而易见的事。

市场经济比计划经济有明显的好处。

过去八年中，我们的gdp增长率是7%。

我们还清了所有外债。

人民的实际收入增长了12%

对我来说，这是主要的成就。

 

Q原油价格高涨，你一定觉得很幸运

 

 

P傻瓜才幸运，我们为此日以继夜的工作。

 

Q政府逮捕了一些俄罗斯企业家冻结了他们的资产，为什么？

 

P我跟他们没有个人恩怨，

他们跟法律和人民有恩怨。

 

 Q克格勃的经历对你做总统有帮助吗?

有句老话说：一朝做间谍，终身为间谍。

 

P那是不真实的。

那样的工作经历确实会有一些帮助。

教会我独立思考。

收集客观信息。

情报工作让我学会跟他人一起工作，首先你得尊重打交道的人。

 

Q在俄罗斯有很多记者被谋杀？你和你的政府可以如何防止这样的事情吗？

P很多人包括记者们，总想在哪弄点钱花花。

这意味着他们有时候跟黑道商人有染。

当然有些是真正的斗士跟腐败，跟犯罪分子斗争。当这样的事情发生时，我个人觉得难过。

 

Q你如何看待美国人对俄罗斯的误解？

 

P我不认为那是误解。

我认为有些人是故意这样误导人们以此影响我们的内政外交。

这就是为何每个人都相信，可以对俄罗斯人指手画脚：

他们还只是刚刚从树上爬下来的野蛮人，需要修剪他们的胡子和头发。

Q能谈谈叶利钦和戈尔巴乔夫吗?

 

P他们摧毁了束缚苏联人民的体系。

我不知道自己是否有那样的勇气。

这是十分重大的转变---给了俄罗斯自由。

 

Q在天然气价格上俄罗斯跟前苏联加盟共和国之间发生了冲突

 

P什么冲突？

那是天然气的世界价格，为何我们要低于世界市场价格出售给他们?你可以到一家美国商店去：我从加拿大来。我们是你们的邻居，那辆克莱斯勒半价给我好吗？

他会得到什么回答?

走开

 

Q布什总统说他曾经看到了你的灵魂。你感觉到他的灵魂了吗

 

P我想他是很靠得住的搭档，值得敬重的人。

伊拉克是一个错误，但是他是一个公正诚实的人。

 

Q你认为911之后在美国和俄罗斯之间错失了一个并肩反对恐怖主义的良机吗？

因为伊拉克战争

P我们可以更有效的合作。

但是我们秘密合作已经进行并取得成果。

 

Q你能描述一下合作吗？

是否在美国和俄罗斯之间成立了这样的反对恐怖主义的机构？

P是的。

最近的工作相当成功，反对意图危害俄罗斯和美国的恐怖主义。

最近我跟布什总统在电话里谈到这个问题。

 

Q刚才您引用了“thou shalt not steal”您读圣经吗？

是的。在我的飞机上有圣经。

 

P您用e-mail 吗？您用博客吗？

说来很惭愧。我不用这些东西，

甚至不用电话。我的助手使用这些，他们用的很好。