Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev sympathizes with USA’s next president

Dmitry Medvedev will make his first appearance as Russia’s president at one of the most important political events of the year, the Group of Eight Summit, which opens next week in Japan. On the threshold of the summit Medvedev had a meeting with foreign journalists representing the G8 countries.

Photo: Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev sympathizes with USA’s next president

Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev sympathizes with USA’s next president

Speaking about the current global economic situation, Medvedev stated that Russia has had certain problems recently because of that situation.

“The interest rate has increased. Secondly, the situation with the inflation rate has not been favorable this year in Russia. The government is doing its best to curb inflation and bring it in conformity with the framework we originally intended to have for this year,” Medvedev said.

The head of state stressed out that he was strongly determined to continue the political course of Russia’s previous president.

“We declared our first priorities for the upcoming 15 or 20 years eight years ago. The goals of Russia’s development have not changed since then. We want to create a developed country with strong economy and social field. We want to overcome poverty, corruption and build friendly relations with our international partners. These goals are not subject to change no matter who heads the state,” Dmitry Medvedev said.

“Since I am a young president I would not like to estimate myself. It is none of my business. However, I do have a set of basic values which I obtained during my school years. This new position has not made my life easier. I sympathize with my American colleagues because they often elect the president who had an extensive work experience in the Congress or at the House of Representatives. However, this president may not know anything about the structure of the executive power. It is possible to learn, of course. I spent several years working in the executive power, which obviously gave me a huge experience,” Medvedev said.

Commenting on John McCain’s recent suggestion to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight, Medvedev said that the remark did not look serious.

"It's completely obvious that any kind of thesis about the exclusion of Russia appears simply unserious. The world 'eight' exists not because someone likes it or dislikes it, but because it is objectively the largest economies and the most serious in terms of foreign politics."

As for Russia’s relations with Britain, the Russian president said that he was ready to make advances at this point. However, Moscow would be expecting the same from London, Medvedev pointed out.

“We have wonderful economic ties which we have never had before. We have huge investments and enormous trade contacts. Our goal is to keep politics away from this,” Medvedev said.