www.Kremlin.ru
May 28, 2009
[Medvedev] Opening Remarks at Meeting with Members of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Barvikha, Moscow Region
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: This is a good tradition we now have, these consultations with political parties, with the major players on our political stage. Today it is the turn of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). I was just looking at the memo provided to this meeting (I somehow hadn't realised this fact before) and it turns out that the Liberal Democratic Party is modern Russia's oldest party. Our country is very young and its oldest party is the LDPR, twenty years old this year, so I congratulate your entire party, Mr Zhirinovsky, and you as leader of the party.
There is another figure that shows how important the party is: members of the LDPR are present in the legislatures of half the Russian regions. This means that the party is active not only in the political centre of the nation, but also in the regions, that it has its own political niche, electorate and supporters and that is a very good thing.
We have been quite actively involved in coordinating our efforts on a variety of issues. We regularly speak with Mr Zhirinovsky and with other colleagues. As a rule, on major issues such as Russia's foreign policy we have no disagreements but are actually in full accord. And I would like to thank the party for supporting Russia's initiatives in the international arena and for defending the nation's interests in many different regions and in different situations.
We have been working together on improving the political system and talking about economic issues. In these respects, there are differences between us, which is no doubt good, since the LDPR is a party which is now in the minority and therefore part of the opposition, and this determines its political role.
Nevertheless, we always try to find common ground on the most difficult issues, including those related to the economy and the political system.
So as always at these meetings, the agenda is wide open, as we agreed. First I would like to give the floor to the leader of the party and then to those who wish to speak.