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Putin Vows to Continue Liberal Reforms in Russia

© RIA Novosti . Alexey Druzhinin / Go to the mediabankRussian prime minister Vladimir Putin
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin - Sputnik International
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In an interview with six foreign newspapers on Friday, Russian prime minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin has promised to continue liberal reforms in Russia if elected president on Sunday and said he was still unsure whether he wanted to remain in the Kremlin beyond 2018.

In an interview with six foreign newspapers on Friday, Russian prime minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin has promised to continue liberal reforms in Russia if elected president on Sunday and said he was still unsure whether he wanted to remain in the Kremlin beyond 2018.

Putin talked to the editors-in-chief of France’s Le Monde, Britain’s The Times, Italy’s La Repubblica, Germany’s Handelsblatt, Canada’s The Globe and Mail and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow.

When asked whether he was going to “tighten the screws” on Russia’s opposition if he returned to the Kremlin, Putin said: “Where do these fears come from? We are not planning anything like this. We are doing just the opposite. Our proposals are aimed at launching dialogue with everybody, both with our supporters and critics.”

Outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev “has just introduced an entire package of laws to parliament which would liberalize our political system,” he said, adding that continuing those reforms will be the duty of the next government.

Putin also confirmed his plans to appoint Medvedev as prime minister should he win the March 4 vote.

“The offer to Medvedev to head the government is explained by the fact that he himself has initiated a range of positive processes, both in our economy and in the political sphere, designed to strengthen democracy in the country,” he said.

In September last year, Putin and Medvedev announced their plans to swap jobs after Medvedev's presidential term expires in 2012. Putin said the plans were agreed four years ago when he picked Medvedev as his successor on the presidential post.

“My offer to him and our agreement on such power sharing, it’s not only about [our] willingness to stay in power, but also to continue the reforms that have been launched,” Putin said.

‘Undecided’

When asked whether he was planning to seek another term in the Kremlin in 2018, Putin said he was still undecided.

“I don’t know whether I want to stay [in power] for more than twenty years. I have not yet decided,” he said.

Putin has been Russia’s president for two consecutive terms in 2000-2008. As the Russian constitution barred him from running for a third term, he appointed Medvedev his successor and took the prime minister’s office.

Many analysts believe that if Putin returns to the Kremlin as a result of the vote on Sunday, he will seek another six-year term in 2018 and remain in office until 2024.

But Putin told the foreign journalists he did not want to look too far ahead.

“We are now talking about electing a Russian president for the next six years,” he said. “I have not even thought [about another term] yet.”

No early parliamentary polls

While promising to continue reforming Russia’s political system to make it more democratic, Putin has refused to meet one of the main demands of last year’s vote protests – to disband the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, and hold snap elections.

When asked during the interview whether he could hold early polls if elected president, Putin said “no.”

Tens of thousands of Russians participated in street protests across the country following the Decemeber 2011 parliamentary polls, which protesters said were marred by "mass fraud" in favor of Putin's United Russia party.

Warding off war in Iran

Commenting on Russia’s position on the situation with Iran, Putin said Moscow will do its best to prevent a war which he said would destabilize the entire region and have “very negative, direct consequences” for Russia.

“We will do everything possible to prevent a military conflict either in Iran or around it,” Putin said. “I think no one is interested in the situation getting out of control.”

Tensions over Iranian nuclear activities have risen to boiling point over the past few weeks since Tehran announced mid-January that it had begun enriching uranium in the heavily fortified Fordow mountain bunker.

As Western powers increased pressure on the Islamic Republic, Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway along its coastline through which one-fifth of the world's oil flows.

Israel has recently stepped up its verbal threats to attack Iran if it does not abandon its nuclear ambitions and the United States has also not ruled out the possibility of using military force against the Islamic Republic.

Western powers suspect Iran of pursuing a secret weapons program, while Tehran insists it needs nuclear fuel for solely civilian purposes.

Putin said he believed Iran had the right to peaceful uranium enrichment under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

U.S. to blame for failed missile defense talks

Washington’s talks with Moscow on European missile defense failed because U.S. negotiators were unwilling to put their oral proposals to Moscow on paper, Putin said.

“They made some proposals to us which we virtually agreed to and asked them to get them down on paper,” he said.

“They told us: we would offer you this, this and that,” he went on. “We did not expect this, but I said: we agree. Please put it down on paper.”

Putin said Russian negotiators were waiting for the U.S. answer “for two months,” but “our American partners then withdrew their own proposals, saying: no, it’s impossible.”

He explained that those “proposals” included guarantees that the U.S.-NATO European missile shield would not be directed against Russia. For example, Russian specialists would be allowed to carry out round-the-clock monitoring of the anti-missile components, and their radars systems would be cemented so that they were directed exactly at Iran and “were technically unable to turn towards Russia.”

“This would not change the situation dramatically, but we said: ok, it's already something, we agree. Put it down on paper. But they refused,” Putin said.

NATO members agreed to create a missile shield over Europe to protect it against ballistic missiles launched by so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea at a summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2010.

Russia has demanded that NATO provide written, legally binding guarantees that its missile shield will not be directed against Moscow, but the alliance has been reluctant to meet the demand.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered in November a series of measures designed to strengthen the country’s missile defense capabilities in response to NATO’s shield, including the deployment of Iskander missiles in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad on the border with Poland.

But despite current tensions over the missile shield, Putin said the “reset” in relations with the United States has been “useful,” pointing to the April 2010 Russian-U.S. nuclear arms cuts deal and progress in talks on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization as examples of fruitful cooperation.

“Those are real steps, real results of this ‘reset’ policy,” he said.

 

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