The Feelings of the Russian President

Putin  tries to gain any kind of support in the West

President Putin  has been persistently convincing  our “European friends and colleagues” of  the things that the Russian people  realized very well  during the recent hostage crisis in the Moscow music theatre. Putin was trying to make the Europeans understand, what Chechnya and the Caucasus  means for Russia, who that “Russian Bin Laden” is, and so on and so forth. He  was doing his best, trying to explain those things to foreigners. However, the Europeans did not hurry  to listen to what Moscow had to say about those issues. They just kept on smiling, shaking hands, nodding heads.

Russians and Europeans can not find a common language in this respect. European human rights are written only for them and for Americans.  As they believe, Russians  do not have any human rights, only  violations of human rights.

The foreigners remember Putin’s past.  Their perception about the Russian people is basically the same – the nation that is going along  another direction, so to speak. This direction is different from the road of the so-called “civilized community.” These are the reasons of their attitude to Russians and conclusions about them.

The latest sign of  that came from Denmark. A Copenhagen court  prolonged Akhmed Zakayev’s arrest. Fugitive Chechen president’s emissary is now  going to stay under arrest for two more weeks. The Danish government  does not hurry to deliver  the terrorist to Russia – to the country,  where there are so many occasions of “human rights violations.”

Vladimir Putin had a meeting with  German Chancellor  Gerhard Schroeder in Norwegian capital Oslo yesterday. Putin said: “Yes, Russia will listen  and react to all well-wishing suggestions from those, who really want to help. Chechnya is Russia’s internal issue. Russia and the Chechen people must solve this problem  in an independent way,  in the interests of the whole Russian Federation. This is a problem of the Russian Federation and  we must solve it.  I am sure that we will do this.” Russia has already suspended the withdrawal of its troops from Chechnya after the hostage-taking act of terrorism  in Moscow.

Putin had to speak in a more determined way after the press conference that was devoted to the results of the summit  between Russia and the European Union. Media outlets reported that Putin gave a very harsh  and rude answer to the question from a French journalist.  That was far from being like that.  Putin’s answer to that question was a reaction of the Russian president in return to the provocative attack against him.

Putin repeatedly stressed out that  Russia was fighting international terrorism  in Chechnya.  The president added that international terrorism had its own definite goals. One of them  is the establishment of an Islamic state on the Russian Federation.

Answering that question from a Danish reporter Putin said: “If I am not mistaken, you belong to allies’  representatives.  You are in danger too. They talk about setting up a worldwide Islamic state and the need to kill Americans and their allies. They talk about the need to kill all...non-Muslims, or 'crusaders,' as they put it. If you are a Christian, you are in danger. If you decided to abandon your faith and become an atheist, you also are to be liquidated according to their concept. You are in danger if you decide to become a Muslim. It is not going to save you anyway because they believe traditional Islam is hostile to their goals. If you want to become an Islamic radical and have yourself circumcised, I invite you to come to Moscow. I would recommend that he who does the surgery does it so you'll have nothing growing back, afterward,” said the president. (Vladimir Putin's angry remark was translated by AP).

“Russia stands for the political process, but we offer to consider the issue of terrorism and the issue of regulation separately from each other.  Those, who want to have peace in Chechnya, have a right to take part in the regulation process,” said Putin at the press conference. “Western media are supposed to present objective reports to their readers and viewers, if they report on the events in Chechnya. They are supposed to treat  the Chechen issue carefully and objectively.”

Well, as a matter of fact, we should not care about what  they think about us  on this or that issue. We are able to heal our ulcers ourselves.  We will definitely talk and counsel to Europe and then we will decide everything ourselves.  It will be possible to do that, if  Russia has only one single  team of the people that go together, after one leader.  So far, there is nothing of the kind, unfortunately.

The split has started from the top. A letter  to defend Akhmed Zakayev, that was handed over to the  Danish embassy,  Chechen PR on the Russian part of the Internet – all those things are like spokes put in the wheels of those that go together, dreaming of the day when Russia becomes a world’s leader.

Eighty-year-old priest, Dmitry Dudko, said: “I hope so much for Vladimir Putin now. It seems to me that he is being like Joseph Stalin. I treat Stalin  with respect, I think that he was a very wise leader. It is Stalin, who  established such a powerful country. Russia has never been that powerful,  there was no tsar in the Russian history, who would  accomplish the things that Stalin did. He managed to overcome and sacrifice so much for the sake of  the country’s greatness. I hope that Putin will  go along the same way. It is  hard to understand him sometimes,  there are a lot of bad things happening in the country. Well, Stalin did not get that decisive and resolute at once either.  There is a fight for television, a fight with oligarchs, a fight for the nations’ health, for children. I would not say that Putin is a Russia's enemy. I would not say that he does not want to make Russia rise. He is the president of a broken country, let’s not denounce him after just two years of his presidency. We need to understand him. His milieu is all alien, the government is all alien, Stalin would not handle all that either. Putin's only helper at the moment is Sergey Ivanov, the Defense Minister, as well as  three or four other men. All the rest are the destroyers. Putin is forced to make them  work for Russia.  However, they just keep on deceiving him. German Gref (the Minister for Economic Development and Trade) is a great deceiver. His words do not match his actions. Anatoly Chubais (a well-known Russian oligarch,  the head of the Russian energy monopoly,  RAO UES of Russia) is a demonic figure  for the country.  He is a 100% betrayer. I think that he still has his power with the help of some considerable forces abroad. Those forces exert pressure on Putin too. This is what I think as a priest. We just need to be patient,  to help Putin in his deed of saving Russia. God help him. Like anyone else,  I have my doubts about him at times. Sometimes I ask myself – will he manage to do that?”

Maybe, that is why Putin keeps on looking for allies everywhere. He just keeps on  explaining things about Russia and its problems to foreigners, chewing them over and over again. He is trying to gain some support. Anyone’s support would be good.

Sergey Stefanov
PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov