Russia’s PM Dimitri Medvedev
Transcript of the PM interview with Euro News.
Emphasis by GR
Syria
Isabelle Kumar: Many thanks for being with us on The
Global Conversation. The issue of Syria is dominating the international agenda.
But we feel we could be reaching the turning point yet it’s unclear which way
it is going to go. What do you think?
Dmitri Medvedev: You know, as I was heading to this
conference, I had a feeling that the situation in this area is very complex and
challenging because we have yet to come to an agreement with our colleagues and
partners on key issues, including the creation of a possible coalition and
military cooperation.
All interactions in this respect have been episodic so
far. That said, I note that here, in Munich, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov met with Secretary of State John Kerry, and other colleagues acting in
various capacities later joined them. They agreed on what should be done in the
short run. For this reason, I’m cautiously optimistic about the prospects for
cooperation on this issue. Let me emphasise that this cooperation is
critical, because unless we come together on this issue, there will be no end
to the war in Syria, people will keep dying, the massive influx of refugees to
Europe will continue, and Europe will have to deal with major challenges. Most
importantly, we will be unable to overcome terrorism, which is a threat to the
entire modern civilization.
Isabelle Kumar: What precise military actions and
other, in that case, is Russia prepared to take to help in this de-escalation
of the conflict in Syria?
Dmitri Medvedev: Let me remind you the reasons behind
Russia’s involvement in Syria. The first reason that compelled Russia to take
part in this campaign is the protection of national interests. There are many
fighters in Syria who can go to Russia at any time and commit terrorist attacks
there. There are thousands of them in Syria.
Second, there is a legal foundation in the form of the
request by President al-Assad. We will therefore take these two factors into
account in our military decisions and, obviously, the developments in the
situation. What matters most at this point is to agree on launching the talks
between all the parties to the Syrian conflict. Another important thing is to
coordinate a list of terrorist groups, since this issue has been a matter of
endless debates on who’s good and who’s bad. This is the first point I wanted
to make.
My second point is the following. I learned that Secretary
of State John Kerry said that if Russia and Iran do not help, the US will be
ready to join other countries in carrying out a ground operation. These are
futile words, he should not have said that for a simple reason: if all he wants
is a protracted war, he can carry out ground operations and anything else. But
don’t try to frighten anyone. Agreements should be reached along the same lines
as Mr Kerry’s conversations with Mr Lavrov, instead of saying that if something
goes wrong, other Arab countries and the US will carry out a ground operation.
I’ve answered this question only recently. But let me
reiterate that no one is interested in a new war, and a ground operation is a
full-fledged, long war. We must bear this in mind.
“We want sound, advanced relations both with the
United States and the European Union”
Assad’s future
Isabelle Kumar: Clearly, one of the key issues is the
future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Will Russia continue to support him
at this crucial moment in time?
Dmitri Medvedev: Russia does not support President
al-Assad personally, but maintains friendly relations with Syria as a country.
These ties were built not under Bashar al-Assad, but back when his father,
Hafez al-Assad, became president. This is my first point in this respect.
Second, we have never said that this is the main issue
for us in this process. We simply believe that there is currently no other
legitimate authority in Syria apart from Bashar al-Assad. He is the incumbent
president, whether anyone likes it or not. Taking him out of this equation
would lead to chaos. We have seen that on numerous occasions in the Middle
East, when countries simply fell apart, as it happened with Libya, for example.
It is for that reason that he should take part in all
the procedures and processes, but it should be up to the Syrian people to
decide his destiny.
Syria’s future
Isabelle Kumar: Are you therefore already working on
ideas of political transition now in Syria?
Dmitri Medvedev: I don’t think that we should go into
too much detail on these issues. I’m talking about Russia, the European Union and the United States. We should focus on
facilitating the launch of this process. We must make sure that everyone sits
down at the negotiating table, in fact, make them talk to each other. Let’s be
honest and recognize that it will be anything but simple given the parties
involved. On one side, you have President al-Assad, supported by a part of
society and the military, and, on the other side, the other part of society,
often representing different confessions, people who don’t like al-Assad but
have to sit with him at the same negotiating table. Nevertheless, they need to
come to an agreement for the sake of keeping Syria united.
Ukraine crisis
Isabelle Kumar: I’d like now to switch focus and look
at the conflict in Ukraine. We talk of the frozen conflict there with, it
appears, renewed fighting in the east. What can Russia do to bring about the
thaw in that conflict, to bring an end to this conflict?
Dmitri Medvedev: Well, understandably, the answer here
is somewhat easier than in Syria’s case. It is not just because this conflict
is not as brutal, but because there is a clear understanding of how to move
forward – by implementing the Minsk Agreements.
They should be implemented fully and in their entirety
by all the parties. In fact, Russia calls on all the parties to do so, both
those in power in the southeast, and the Kiev authorities. It is not a matter
of Russia having some disagreements with Kiev or mutual dislike.
It would be fair to say that most of the provisions
that were the responsibility of southeast Ukraine have been fulfilled. Most
importantly, hostilities have ceased almost completely. Unfortunately, some
action takes place from time to time, but not often. Finding political and
legal solutions in keeping with the Minsk Agreements has now become vital.
Whose responsibility is it? Of course, it is Ukraine’s responsibility. If
Ukraine regards the southeast as part of its territory, it is within the
jurisdiction, competence and authority of the President, Parliament and
Government of Ukraine.
Isabelle Kumar: If you meet President Poroshenko here,
at the Munich security conference, what will you say to him?
Dmitri Medvedev: I haven’t seen him and, to be honest,
I haven’t missed him. President Poroshenko is in contact with President Putin.
There is no doubt that the main thing my colleagues should undertake is to do
everything it takes to implement the Minsk Agreements. It would benefit them,
as well as the Ukrainian state, which, no matter what anyone says, is a close,
neighbouring country for Russia.
Crimea
Isabelle Kumar: Obviously, one of the major sticking
points in this, for Ukraine, but also for the international community, is
Crimea. Is the future of Crimea up for negotiation?
Dmitri Medvedev: No, there is no such issue for
Russia. This issue was settled once and for all. Crimea is part of Russia. A
referendum was held there, we amended the constitution. The Republic of Crimea
and the city of Sevastopol are part of the Russian Federation.
Russia’s relations with the world
Isabelle Kumar: So the conflict in Syria, the
situation in Ukraine has contributed to a real degradation of relations with
Russia, with the EU and the US. Do you think a reset is possible?
Dmitri Medvedev: The question is how and for whose
sake. If something is to be reset, it should be done on a fundamentally different
basis. What kind of basis? Equitable, fair, solid basis for relations,
considering that Russia is not the only nation that needs this – the European
Union and the United States need it as well. We want sound, advanced relations
both with the United States and the European Union.
The European Union is our most important trade
partner, a group of countries located on the same continent as us, so we are
bound by our shared European identity, history and values. These continuing
tensions aren’t doing us any good. But if we are told that they no longer want
us around, of course, the first steps towards reconciliation should be taken by
those who initiated the alienation. As for us, we are ready to discuss any
issues.
Russia’s economy
Isabelle Kumar: Well, one of the repercussions of the
souring of relations has been the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia,
which are hitting hard. How much of a priority is it for your government to get
those sanctions lifted?
Dmitri Medvedev: They told us we were the bad guys and
had to be punished. And then they made some calculations and began to weep: it
turns out that for some reason it was hitting their own business.
We had a trade turnover with the European Union at 450
billion euros. It was 450 billion! Now it is down to 217 billion euros. Why
don’t they ask the people in the EU who are employed by the various companies
that used to make products for Russia – how do they like all of this?
Again, we are not the ones who started this, so it is
not up to us to undo it. They have always been trying to intimidate us with
some sanctions, which were introduced even in the Soviet period, many times. It
never brought them anything but lost profits. What is happening now is no
different. They will have to have the courage to say, guys, we’ll just scrap
all this from day X, and could you please reciprocate by lifting your response
measures as well. That would be the right approach.
Isabelle Kumar: So how are ordinary Russians feeling
this economic crisis? Because the sanctions are contributing towards this, the
falling oil prices are also contributing to this. What’s it like for ordinary
Russians?
Dmitri Medvedev: Indeed, we aren’t in the best
economic situation right now, with the dramatic fall in oil prices probably
contributing the most to the overall state of the economy, to the decline in
revenues. This is something we haven’t seen for 17 years. The current prices
are comparable to those in 1998. Unfortunately, our budget remains very
dependent on oil prices. Although the structure of revenues has been improving,
in terms of the share of oil and other sources, but yes, it remains
commodity-dependent to a great extent. This could not but affect the incomes
and the general standing of our people with their jobs and their real incomes.
The sanctions have had some effect as well. This is
obvious, since some of our companies, for example, lost the financing they used
to have from European banks, which means they cannot grow, some of them anyway.
Therefore, in this sense, the economic situation is not the easiest. But there
is also a positive effect. The economy is healing, it is becoming less
dependent on oil, and we have an opportunity to develop our own industry and
agriculture.
Perhaps one of the advantages of these sanctions and
our response measures is that we started concentrating harder on domestic
agriculture, so, to a large extent, we are now satisfying our demand for food,
while wheat, for example, is now exported in large quantities. In this sense,
the sanctions have helped. But they probably didn’t help farmers in the
European Union.
Isabelle Kumar: I was asking about the ordinary
Russians and how this was affecting them. And we hear of possible social unrest
as their lives become more and more difficult in Russia. Is that
something you are concerned about?
Dmitri Medvedev: Of course, the government must first
of all think about the social impact of economic changes and the economic
situation. Frankly, we have been compelled to cut budget spending in many
areas, but we never touched social spending, or the public sector wages and
benefits.
Moreover, we even indexed pensions last year, and this
year, too, maybe not completely, but we did. We will try to continue doing this
in the future. That is, the government’s social spending is large, but it is
inviolable. In this sense, we will try to do everything towards Russian
citizens’ social wellbeing, to keep them as comfortable as possible under these
conditions. It is truly a priority for the government.
Russia’s human rights record
Isabelle Kumar: If we take an international
perspective once again, a black mark on Russia’s reputation is the issue of
human rights and freedom of speech, which Russia seems to continually backslide
on. Why is that?
Dmitri Medvedev: To be frank, we’ve always differed in
our views on the situation with the freedom of expression and the media in
Russia. We’ve often been criticized and we are still coming under criticism. We
have our own position on the issue. Perhaps in Russia, the media are somewhat
different, for example, from the European media.
There are historical differences and there are growth
issues. I rarely watch TV or read newspapers in print and I receive virtually
all of my information from the Internet. And over half of Russia’s population
does the same. As you know, on the Internet, there is no regulation in this
sense. All points of view are represented there, including, to put it bluntly,
even extremist ones. So I believe it’s not serious to think that some people
have no access to different kinds of information in today’s global world.
Litvinenko enquiry
Isabelle Kumar: Yes, but also it seems that dissidents
are silenced. In Britain, as you know, there has been – the results of the
inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, which the inquiry said – it
pointed the finger at President Vladimir Putin, saying that it was likely that he ordered that
murder. Will you be pursuing the British Government on this? There was talk of
you suing the British Government over this inquiry.
Dmitri Medvedev: You’ve mentioned some report by some
retired judge, in which practically every paragraph and each section opens with
the word “probably”. What is there to comment on? What is regrettable about
this whole story is that the British Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary
comment on a report that abounds in words like “probably”.
This is reminiscent of a witch-hunt. When all is said
and done, let it be on the conscience of the commentators. As for any legal
action, this is simply ridiculous. We don’t need this and the Russian
Federation will never sue any country over some foolish fabrications or funny
films.
Highlights
Isabelle Kumar: Finally, Mr Prime Minister, you’ve
held the post of prime minister and also held the presidency, so you’ve got an
overview, a full perspective of the issues we’ve been talking about, but if I
were to ask you about one of the highlights of the your time in power, could
you say what that’s been?
Dmitri Medvedev: Well, there’ve been plenty. Both
these posts are very serious and challenging. These eight years of my life –
and it has been almost eight years – you know, it’s this constant drive. As for
events, there have been plenty, both in Russia – very good ones for me
personally, notable, major, and sometime tragic events, like the ones we’ve
been talking about now, and international events.
After all, we have not only argued and quarrelled.
We’ve also accomplished a thing or two. For example, at some point we agreed on
a New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. That was not bad at all. The document
was signed. It is in force. It is being implemented and therefore we can work
together and agree on different things. There have been contacts with my
colleagues, including here in Germany, as well as in other European countries.
We have dealt with a lot of issues. All of this is remarkable and exciting.
Maybe one day I’ll talk about this in detail. For the time being I continue
working and this work is interesting.
Prime Minister, many thanks for joining us.
The original source of this article is euronews
Copyright © Dimitri Medvedev, euronews, 2016
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