Western financial institutions failed to spot – then halt – the global economic crisis, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said, adding it might be wise for the world's largest economies to listen to Russian solutions for a change.
One revered institution in dire need of a shakeup is the Group of Eight industrialized countries, Mr. Medvedev said, suggesting it could be expanded it to include other emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.
“It's obvious that a series of institutions which were set up in the 1960s and 1970s . . . are not getting on top of the problem,” Mr. Medvedev, 42, said, during a question-and-answer session this week with a handful of reporters at the Kremlin.
“That's why the idea has emerged in a number of states to try to regulate the financial system in a new way. This isn't easy. Of course it doesn't mean smashing the system which has been created for decades, but it must be improved so as to become more contemporary and better defended against risk. It must be fairer toward other states.”
It's the second time in recent weeks that Mr. Medvedev has chided the soundness of Western financial systems. At an economic forum in St. Petersburg last month, Mr. Medvedev spoke of America's “economic egoism.” He used the phrase again at the Kremlin interview, adding: “The system can't be based only on one country and one currency. In the future, it must be based on a balance of leading economies.”
The diminutive, rookie president, who was inaugurated in May, said the main issues confronting G8 leaders meeting next week in Japan will be rising food prices, energy security and climate change.
Mr. Medvedev's fondness for careful, corporate language was on full display during the 90-minute interview, which drove home the sharp contrast with his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who is now prime minister.
Where Mr. Putin was expansive, emotional and sometimes crude, Mr. Medvedev was contained, careful and courteous, his speech laced with economic jargon.
Seated at the head of a round table, Mr. Medvedev listened earnestly to the questions before launching into long, serious replies.
Dressed in a crisp navy blue suit, his face lightly powdered, Mr. Medvedev sipped tea and occasionally twirled a pen. Despite prods by reporters, he offered few hints about his own personality and passions.
Given his relative youth, some of his answers were surprisingly stiff.
When a British journalist what he thought of London – a city where Mr. Medvedev has frequently vacationed – the president gave a small smile and replied: “London is a good town, a beautiful town. It has a very reserved, British style. It's one of the world's leading financial centres.”
Mr. Putin's last years as president were characterized by his increasingly bellicose remarks toward the West. He routinely accused the West of hypocrisy and rejected all criticism of Russia's flawed elections.
Mr. Medvedev, by contrast, displayed far less bravado about the state of Russia.
“I wouldn't like to idealize the situation in my own country,” he said. “We are a young democracy, far from being ideal. But we are trying to develop it and trying to be consistent based on the constitutional foundation we have.”
The only time, Mr. Medvedev appeared to drop his guard was when he was he was asked to comment on a recent poll that said nearly 60 per cent of young, middle-class Russians have toyed with the idea of emigrating.
“I am surprised,” Mr. Medvedev said, his eyebrows narrowing.
“I thought the number of people who wanted to leave had dropped in recent years. I just had a feeling . . . talking to my friends who are not civil servants, who do not work in important offices. They're just people working in small businesses, just people who deal with social issues.”
