Guest
Excerpts from an Interview with the Chief Editors of the Newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia, Moskovsky Komsomolets and 8 March 22,2001. Moscow. Интервью главным редакторам газет «Комсомольская правда», «Известия», «Московский комсомолец», «Труд» 22 марта 2001 года. Москва. But back to Chechnya, closer to home. Can a final solution of the problem be achieved there? Yes, it can. What is the solution? At present it is the strengthening of the local government bodies, the improvement of their performance, the recovery of the social infrastructure, the public health system and, most importantly, of the economy. At present you see anyone from kids to old folks planting all these booby-traps and explosives. Do you think they are doing it for ideological reasons? Planting an explosive device costs 10-50 dollars. M. KOZHOKIN: So, it has been put on a commercial basis. VLADIMIR PUTIN: Why? Because they have to make a living, they have to work somewhere. As it is, there is total unemployment. And that, of course, is a formidable and costly challenge. And it too can only be met by the Chechens themselves, with our support, of course. That cannot be done without establishing constitutional order there. If there are terrorist attacks and bandits, you cannot build or create anything because tomorrow it may be destroyed, looted and so on. It is a very challenging and comprehensive task. But I have indicated the direction in which we must move. M. KOZHOKIN: Will troops be withdrawn? VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, of course. It makes no sense to have excessive troops in the Chechen Republic. The Army should either fight or hone its combat skills, that is, conduct exercises. The amount of troops currently in Chechnya is well above what we need to do the fighting, and training is impossible to conduct. Why keep our Army there? It is meaningless and harmful. But we retain the troop strength that Russia needs in the region. A. POTAPOV: You have touched on the question of Macedonia. What is our interest in Macedonia? VLADIMIR PUTIN: We are interested in stability in the region. That is the first and most important thing. Secondly. We have special relationships and common historical, religious, cultural and even linguistic ties with many groups of the population in the former Yugoslavia. So, we have many interests there and that is why we follow the developments there with anxiety. It is difficult to discuss the prospects of settlement at present. For such prospects to appear the international community should take a consolidated and tough stand. Let us face it, the Albanian separatists did not get their weapons from nowhere, they were provided with weapons. But later those who had armed them agreed with Russias proposals and voted for United Nations Resolution 1244 whereby the Albanian Liberation Army was to be disarmed. But nobody is doing anything towards that end. Indeed, some people have been telling me privately that this is no longer possible. If we want to see peace and prosperity in that land compliance with the UN Security Council Resolution must be enforced. The so-called Kosovo Liberation Army must be disarmed and the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia and Macedonia must be assured. Separatism cannot be allowed to develop in Europe, otherwise the future looks bleak for that part of Europe. And in general, it reflects badly on the image of Europe, the economic situation, and brings down the exchange rate of the Euro and so on.
