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kremlin.ru
September 24, 2004
President Putin's Final words at the World Congress of News Agencies

President Vladimir Putin:

Before the end of the forum opening ceremony, President Vladimir Putin made a statement, the full text of which follows:

“Before the congress chairman announces a break, during which I shall leave, I would like to once again thank you for assembling today here in Russia. I appreciate the fact because I think it extremely important and I see two important elements in it for you: this visit to Moscow, I am sure, provides you with an opportunity to understand better in the course of discussions with the Russian colleagues what is really happening here, you will understand better what notable role Russia is playing in the world affairs, which, I am confident, will do good both to you and to us.

“The Danish representative, if I am not mistaken, voiced a question here about democracy and stability. There is an implied question in this about what is taking place, what is behind the proposals for certain changes in the streamlining of the political system. I want to draw your attention to the following: we do not intend to do anything that does not exist in the world’s democratic nations. We have proposed two things: to elect parliament on the party principle, and, second, amend the system of elections of the heads of the Russian regions.

“The election of parliament on a representative, party principle is practiced in a large number of countries, including, if my memory serves me right, in Denmark. This principle is observed in both unicameral and bicameral parliaments. I want to note that the majority system in many countries of the world is regarded as archaic, and many countries are gradually giving it up because a person elected by a one-seat constituency to a country’s supreme representative body of power can promise much of everything in the course of campaigning but he or she is absolutely incapable of bringing at least one of his ideas to fruition or keeping any one of his promises. Such a person has to form links to a major party. On the other hand, it is extremely important for us to steer the political activity towards party channels, which, in my considered opinion, will impart an impulse to the development of a multi-party system, which is extremely important for present day Russia from the viewpoint of developing institutes of democracy.

“As regards the new way, a possible new way to elect the leaders of the Russian regions, there is something in it that requires our attention bearing in mind the experience of other countries.

“It is known that there are three ways of forming regional leaders or the regional level of power ­ through direct or secret ballot, as, for example, in the United States or Mexico, through the representative bodies, i.e. through a system of electors, which is the case of Austria, Federal Germany, Italy, among others. And through direct appointment of regional leaders, as is the case, say, in Great Britain where cabinet ministers are appointed in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We see the same procedures in many other countries.

“It means that we are proposing similar procedures; there is nothing unusual here. For us, the Russian Federation with its fast territory, its diversity of ethnic communities and cultures in its territory, the proposed system, I think is the most optimal, bearing in mind the fact that some republics and some autonomies in the Russian Federation are multiethnic and a tradition has been formed over decades and even centuries to form the supreme executive and representative bodies of power on the basis of a rotational principle as regards the so-called the basic nationalities residing in one or another republic. The election of regional leaders through the representative body of power in constituents of the Russian Federation is, in my view, optimal as it takes into account both the interests of a respective region and the interests of the federal center, which leads to the creation of a cohesive system of executive power.

“These are not all the problems confronting Russia and which I would like to see you grasp in-depth, you to understand what is really happening in my country. It seems very important to me in my occupation and is very important for the mass media and the politicians to keep in mind is the need to work out after all a cohesive political apparatus for us to use. The UNESCO Director-General spoke here about the picture of the world, which UNESCO is working to form, all of us working to form, but you are exercising the greatest influence on this world in its efforts to form its true picture in the minds of the people. It is impossible to form a sterling picture of the world if people speak different languages ­ not in the direct but in a figurative meaning of these words. We should have a common conceptual framework.

“Take the word terrorism. Its origin is Latin. And its meaning is similar in all the dictionaries in which I looked it up yesterday. A terrorist the person who resorts to acts of terror to suppress political opponents by force, English, French and Russian dictionaries give similar concepts and interpretation of the word. So why do we use the word arbitrarily when speaking about the political situation of a specific group in one or another country? How can one describe as “a siege” the horrible tragedy in Beslan, the execution of innocent children, as some of the mass media outlets did? Incidentally, this is a part of an answer to the question about what kind of coverage of events in our country is provided. You know, we recorded the conversations, which the terrorist held through interphone systems. We know what they said to one another and how they did it. Wild beasts do nothing of the kind. And some reporters called it a siege and describe as insurgents the people who commit such atrocities. If someone is seeking to reach political ends by such means, everybody should have the same definition of such a person ­ murderer and terrorist.

“Unless we learn to speak the same conceptual language, we shall never achieve our common goals and will never protect our people ­ ours, yours, all the people on the planet against this threat, this plague of the 21st century, from terrorism. We shall never work out common approaches to the formation of effective international security architecture in the 21st century. And terrorism is not the only threat. We must work out common approaches to non-proliferation, the narcotic threat, trafficking in people, to the creation of an effective, well-balanced, substantiated economic development system.

It is a great job to do. I wish you success.”