12 November 2002 00:00
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN REMARKS AND ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AT JOINT PRESS OPPORTUNITY FOLLOWING MEETING WITH GEORGE ROBERTSON, BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 11, 2002
Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,
Our bilateral meeting with the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Robertson, has just concluded. We examined important questions of the Russia-NATO relationship. We consider that the potential laid in Rome for cooperation within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council is beginning to be realized. In this body, the search is under way for answers to a broad range of threats within the framework of both global and regional security. In the first place, I mean the threat of international terrorism.
The tragic events in Moscow have become one more confirmation of the need for the world community to rally in the struggle against this evil. And in this connection I want to express gratitude to the NATO Secretary General for the support of the people and leadership of Russia at the difficult period for us. That solidarity has clearly shown that the Council at 20 is the exact instrument which can determine the political will, the resources of Russia and NATO for attaining peace and stability. Mr. Robertson phoned me exactly on the day when I was meeting with officials of our special units.
In December we are preparing in Moscow an international conference on the military's participation in combating terrorism. In this conference Mr. Robertson is planning to take part.
Needless to say, in the light of the upcoming decisions of the NATO Prague Summit on the alliance's enlargement we spoke of this problem too. We hope, and spoke of this today in considerable detail, that no events of this kind will undermine the existing system of military security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region or harm Russian interests. Of course, I told the Secretary General that we highly appreciate our cooperation and political declarations in this connection, but it goes without saying that the military organizations of Russia will in the first place assess the military potentials that will emerge upon admission of new members to NATO. We hope that mutual military restraint and respect for the interests of each other will form the basis of relations between Russia and the alliance.
Question: After the creation of the Council at 20 and the establishment of the new Russia-NATO relationship, do you assume the possibility of your country's full-fledged entry into the North Atlantic alliance?
President Putin: With regard to Russia's full-format participation in NATO. We have never raised the question this way. Yet I can say that we are satisfied with the way work has been proceeding within the framework of the cooperation process. Mr. Secretary General noted the main direction of our joint work: it is the struggle against terrorism, discussing missile defense problems, rescue at sea, demining, and humanitarian operations.
We did not raise earlier the question of full-format participation in NATO. Nor are we raising this question today. But if our relations with NATO develop as positively as they do now, if NATO transforms itself, carries out an appropriate reform within itself, if our cooperation meets the national interests of the Russian Federation, and if this is the instrument with the aid of which we will be able to realize our national interests, then cooperation with NATO will expand, will alter and will be more full-format and more complete.
A question to the Secretary General from German television: To what extent does NATO support the policy of Russia in Chechnya?
President Putin (adding to what George Robertson said): I have just briefed the Secretary General on the situation in Chechnya. We are by no means going to avoid solving humanitarian issues. Only yesterday I met with the representatives of the Chechen public and with the representatives of the religious circles in Chechnya, who raised the question of accelerating the political settlement in the Republic. They suggest beginning the process of the adoption of a constitution of Chechnya as the first stage of the political settlement, so as after this to hold an election for a head of the Republic as the second phase of the political process. We support this process and this proposal. I want to stress just one thing - we won't have the people in this process whose arms are elbow-deep in the blood of our citizens. At the same time we will not cut off from the process those who ten years back were under the separatists' influence. The complicated situation has no simple solutions. We will do our best to strengthen law enforcement bodies of the Chechen Republic itself. Yesterday an important step was taken in this direction. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia signed a document creating a Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic. As the ministry of internal affairs grows stronger, Chechens themselves will increasingly assume the responsibility for the fight against banditry and terrorism on the territory of their own republic. And as their capabilities and fighting efficiency increase, federal forces will take an ever lesser part in the work of this kind. In the first place the possibility of participation by army units in carrying out various antiterrorist operations in Chechnya will be banned.
And the last point. I, unfortunately, cannot watch European television broadcasts in all the languages, but German television I do sometimes watch. I ask you to treat this subject very thoroughly and, as far as possible, objectively inform your listeners and viewers of all the processes which are going on in Chechnya. Only today from the lips of your colleagues I heard that in Chechnya no positive processes were taking place, that nothing was being restored there at all, that everything lay in ruins and that no money was coming in from Moscow.
Absolutely responsibly I say to you: this is a complete lie.
For the first time in years, pensions and social benefits have begun to be paid there; schools have opened (children in Chechnya had not attended school for many years), along with nurseries and kindergartens. Only recently it was difficult to imagine higher educational institutions functioning in Grozny. They are now open, they're working, and the competition is increasing for admission to these higher schools. Seven hundred million euros, for energy, wages and so on, was directed into Chechnya last year. For the first time in years, including Soviet, a grain crop never seen before has been gathered in. Of course, there is very much destruction, and we cannot do everything as fast as we would like. But we will by all means do that. The problem is that it is difficult to do everything before a complete settlement of the situation, as to build today what will be destroyed tomorrow makes no sense. Unemployment is a big problem, especially among young people. We know and understand this, but none the less the positive is there, and we will be building it on.
Question: You have just given a high assessment to the Russia-NATO work. Does it mean that your hopes for it have been justified and what, in your opinion, is its future?
President Putin: As to the Russia-NATO relationship, I have already said what kind of prospects we see for it. It seems to me that a quite good instrument has been found. I repeat we are satisfied with the way work is proceeding in the Council and I hope that the agreements we have achieved will be implemented and we will search for new areas for cooperation.
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