Transcription from interpreter's text made by The Globe's Doug Saunders.
QUESTION: Russia doesn't seem to like the west very much any more. Our relationship has cooled down considerably. . . . Are we moving towards a cold war again?
Mr. Putin: In international affairs and in the relations between the states, one can hardly be using any terminology which would be appropriate in the relations between people — especially during the honeymoon or just before a man and a woman plan on going to church to register their marriage. So in the relations between the states, always throughout history, the key principle was the observance of interests, and the more civilized the relations have been, the more clear it was that the interests of the country should be correlated with the interests of other countries, and compromise is to be found when resolving even the most complex issues.
The largest complexity of today — I'm not going to say that this is impassable in complexity, but nevertheless this is a complex issue — is that some of the participants of the international dialogue believe that their ideas are the ultimate truth, their interests are the ultimate truth. This of course does not facilitate the creation of an atmosphere of trust and confidence, which I believe is the mandatory thing for the finding of acceptable and appropriate optimal decisions.
Related Articles
At the same time believe that we should not be dramatizing the situation — if we are expressing our position in an open way and a fair way, it does not mean we are looking for a confrontation. I am absolutely convinced that should we re-establish in the international arena the practice of not simply fair and honest discussion, but the skill of finding the compromise — this would be to the benefit of everyone. Some crises which the international community has had to face would not have been possible in such a case, and they would not have been as detrimental to the internal political situation of some countries, and they would have been that much of a headache to the United States. The events in Iraq, for instance, just as an example because that is one of the most vivid and acute issues.
I want you to understand me. You remember that we were opposing the military actions in Iraq. We are still convinced that the goals which were in front of us at the time, they could have been attained through different means. And the results in my view would have been better than the one we are seeing today. So we are not going for confrontation; we are for dialogue. But on the condition that there are level playing fields, taking into consideration the interests of each and every one.
Q: What are your responses to the U.S. efforts to establish a missile-defence system in Central Europe?
A: As you know, I believe that we can still talk about that. About the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, I would like to start with that.
We have not simply stated that we are prepared to fulfill this treaty — we have in reality brought it into life and implemented it. We have brought all our heavy weapons beyond the Urals and we have reduced our military forces by 300,000, and some other steps. But what do we have in return? We see that Eastern Europe is being filled with new equipment, with new military, in Romania and Bulgaria as well as radar in the Czech Republic and missile systems in Poland.
So we have a question there: what is happening? What is happening is that there is the unilateral disarmament of Russia. And we would expect that there should be preparedness of our partners in Europe to do the same . . . but instead of that there is a pumping-in of new weapons systems into eastern Europe. What should we be doing in such conditions? Of course, we should be nothing but concerned.
We have announced a moratorium on the CFE implementation. . . . Speaking about the missile defence system — of course this is not simply a missile defence system per se as it is — when it is created and installed, it is going to work in an automatic mode, in conjunction with all the nuclear potential of the united states, which will be an inviolate part of the whole nuclear system of the United States.
