Putin’s interview for Austrian television: Tough answers to most provocative questions

On the eve of his first visit to Austria, Vladimir Putin gave a lengthy interview to Austrian television channel ORF.

The interviewer, Armin Wolf, was interested not only in issues of Russia’s foreign policy, but also in domestic political plans of Vladimir Putin harbours. It is worthy of note that, as the Austrian journalist said, there were no prohibitions from the Kremlin concerning the topics of the interview.

Armin Wolf was least interested in details of the possible mutually beneficial cooperation between Moscow and Vienna, although this was the reasons for the interview to take place. Contrary to the general trend set by the United States, Austria did not expel Russian diplomats in connection with the so-called “Skripal case.”

“Austria and Russia have long had very good and deep relationship. Austria is our traditional and reliable partner in Europe. Despite all the difficulties of previous years, with Austria, we have never interrupted our dialogue in politics, security and economy,” Putin said, adding that the two countries have many common interests.

However, Wolf wanted to find out why the Russian administration was working closely with Austrian nationalist parties that are critical of the European Union. The question contained an allusion to Russia’s alleged intention to split the European Union.

Putin had to patiently explain obvious things to the Austrian reporter:

“We have no goal to divide anything in the European Union, we are interested in the prosperous EU, because the European Union is our largest trade and economic partner, and the more problems the European Union has, the more risks and uncertainties we have to deal with,” Putin said.

Of course, the Austrian journalist could not but ask Putin about “Russia’s interference” in the presidential election in the United States. The journalist asked the Russian president about activities of the Internet Research Agency, aka the “troll factory”, which is associated with Russian entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin. The journalist persistently tried to get Vladimir Putin to confirm the thesis that the man who is commonly referred to as the “chef” because of his restaurant business, could influence the elections in the US, because he had very close ties with the Russian government.

Putin had this to say in response to this question: “There is such a person in the United States, Mr. Soros, who interferes in all affairs throughout the world, and I often hear our American friends saying that America has nothing to do with it as a state. Rumour has it that Mr. Soros wants to shake the euro, the European currency, and this is already being discussed in expert circles. Ask the US State Department why he wants to do it. You will be told that the US State Department has nothing to do with it as this is a personal matter of Mr. George Soros. Here, we can say that this is a personal matter of Mr. Prigozhin. This is my answer to you. Are you satisfied with this answer?”

Putin did not give a direct answer to the question of why he has not been able to have a meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump lately.

“The pre-election campaign for the Congress is getting started, and the presidential election is not too far away, attacks on the President of the United States continue in different directions. I think that this is the first thing,” the Russian leader said explaining the reason why he has not been able to meet Donald Trump lately.

Armin Wolf asked a question about the possibility of a nuclear war between the United States and North Korea. According to Vladimir Putin, “this is a terrible assumption,” because the DPRK is a close neighbour of Russia, and one of Pyongyang’s nuclear test sites is only 190 kilometres from the Russian border.

“We are pinning great hopes on a personal meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, because mutual claims have gone too far,” Putin said.

Putin had to answer biased questions about the relations between Russia and Ukraine. He tried to explain Russia’s position in detail, but the Austrian journalist tried to take the conversation in another direction.

For example, speaking about the MH17 disaster, Armin Wolf dogmatically stated that the passenger plane was shot down with a missile of Russian origin and assumed that it was about time Russia should admit that officially.

“If you have some patience and listen to me, then you will know my point of view on this issue, okay?” Putin replied, adding that, firstly, Ukraine has Soviet-made weapons and, secondly, Russia is not allowed to access the materials of the investigation, even though Ukraine can access it.

The journalist continued by saying that “everyone already knows where the missile came from.” Putin responded: “Malaysian officials have recently stated that they did not see Russia’s involvement in the terrible tragedy. They said that they had no evidence to prove it. Don’t you know about this?”

Armin Wolf continued with a question about Russia’s alleged military interference in the Crimean events from 2014.

“Russian army units have always been present in the Crimea. Do you want to just ask questions all the time or do you want to hear my answers? The first thing that we did when events in Ukraine began…but what kind of events were they? I will now say, and you will tell me yes or no. It was an armed coup and seizure of power. Yes or no, can you tell me?”

The journalist mumbled that he was no expert on the subject of the Ukrainian constitution. Explaining how the Crimean peninsula escaped from Ukraine’s rampant nationalism and reunited with Russia, Vladimir Putin switched to German in an attempt to convey his message to the Austrian journalist.

“What should happen so Russia returns the Crimea to Ukraine?” the journalist asked.

“There are no such conditions and there cannot be. You have interrupted me yet again. If you had let me finish, you would have understood my point. When the unconstitutional armed coup took place in Ukraine, when power was seized by force, our army units were deployed in Ukraine on legal grounds – there was a Russian army base there. There was no one else there. But there were our armed forces there.”

The journalist was ready to interrupt Putin again, so the president had to say: “Seien Sie so nett, lassen Sie mich etwas sagen.” [“Will you please be so kind and let me proceed.”]. Then he continued:

“When the spiral of unconstitutional actions in Ukraine started twisting, when the people in the Crimea started sensing danger, when whole trains of nationalists started arriving there, when they  started blocking buses and automotive transport, the people wanted to defend themselves. The first thing that came to mind was to restore their rights that had been received within the framework of Ukraine, when the Crimea was granted autonomy. This is what kicked everything off, and the parliament started working on the process to determine its independence on Ukraine. Is this strictly prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations? No. The right of nations to self-determination is clearly stated there,” Putin said.

“The annexation of the Crimea was the first incident, when a country in Europe annexed a part of another country against its will, which was perceived as a threat to neighbouring states,” the journalist interrupted Putin.

“You know, if you do not like my answers, then you do not ask any questions, but if you want to get my opinion on questions, then you have to be patient,” Putin said.

“The Crimea gained its independence as a result of the will of the Crimeans in an open referendum, rather than as a result of the invasion of Russian troops. You are talking about annexation, but do you call annexation a referendum held by the people living on this territory? In this case, one should call Kosovo’s self-identification an act of annexation too,” Putin said.

Wolf tried to develop the Crimean question by drawing a parallel with events in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Putin replied: “Yes, Al-Qaeda’s radical groups did want to alienate those territories from the Russian Federation and form their caliphate from the Black to the Caspian Sea. I do not think that Austria and Europe would have been happy about it. Yet, the Chechen people themselves came to an entirely different conclusion in the elections, and the Chechen people signed an agreement with the Russian Federation.”

When talking about Syria, the journalist claimed that Russia was defending a regime that was using chemical weapons against its people.

“You said that everyone proved that Assad had used chemical weapons. Yet, our specialists say the opposite, and it goes about the Douma incident, which was used to strike a missile blow on Syria after it was assumed that there were chemical weapons used in the city of Douma,” Putin said adding that the OPCW was invited to investigate those events.

“Instead of waiting for one or two days and giving the OPCW an opportunity to work on the spot, a missile attack was conducted. Please tell me: is this the best way to resolve a question of objectivity of what was happening there? In my opinion, it was an attempt to create conditions that wold make investigation impossible,” Putin said.

As for Russian domestic affairs, the Austrian reporter asked only a couple of questions about low salaries and the number of the poor.

“Since 2012, Russia has gone through a number of very difficult challenges in its economy. That was not only because of so-called sanctions and restrictions, but also because prices on Russian traditional export goods had halved. It affected Russia’s GDP budget revenues, and ultimately, people’s incomes. Yet, we have preserved and strengthened the macroeconomic stability in the country,” Putin said.

Armin Wolf also asked Putin about his plans for the future, as well as about the Russian opposition.

“Some say that you have turned the country into an authoritarian system, in which you are the czar. Is this true?” the journalist asked.

“No, this is not true, because we have a democratic state, and we all live within the framework of the current Constitution. Our Constitution says that a president can be elected for two consecutive terms. After two legitimate terms of my presidency I left this post, did not change the Constitution and moved to another job, where I served as the prime minister. Afterwards, I returned in 2012 and won the election again,” said Putin.

The Austrian journalist was very interested why opposition activist Alexei Navalny could not participate in the elections. Wolff also wanted to know why Putin prefers not to call the blogger’s name in public.

“We have a lot of rebels, just like you, just like the United States,” Putin replied. “We do not want to have another, second, third or fifth Saakashvili, the former President of Georgia. We do not want people like Saakashvili on our political scene. Russia needs those who bring positive agenda, who know, and not just designate problems, and we enough of them, just like you have in Austria, just like in any other country,” Putin added.

Wolf continued insisting that Navalny was not given an opportunity to run, and people could not even take a look at the candidate.

“Voters can look at any person they want because the Internet is free for us. No one shut him away. The media is free. People can always go out and say something out loud, and this is what various political figures do. If a person acquires some sort of electors’ support, then he becomes a figure which the state must communicate and negotiate with. Yet, if their level of confidence is 0,01, 0,02, 0,03 percent, then what can we talk about? This is just another Saakashvili. Why do we need such clowns?” Putin said.

“My presidential term has just begun, it’s only a start, so let’s not put the cart before the horse. I’ve never violated the Constitution of my country and I’m not going to do that,” the president said answering a question about his plans for the future.

At the end of the interview, the journalist asked Putin a very unusual question that, as it seems, no one has ever asked the Russian president before. The question was about Putin’s so-called “alpha male photos,” on which he posed semi-naked. According to the journalists, it is unusual for a head of state to publish such photos for the general public.

“Well, thank God, you said semi-naked, and not naked. If I’m having a holiday, I do not think I should hide in the bushes, there’s nothing bad about it,” Putin said.

Later, Armin Wolf shared his impressions of the interview with the Russian president. He said that the Russian president was a very artful and complex interlocutor. Wolf added that he was impressed with Putin’s quiet voice most.

“As a matter of fact, my expectations were justified. Judging from what we see on television, Vladimir Putin is not very tall, I knew it, we all know what he looks like, but there’s a thing that really struck me. He has a rather sonorous voice, but he speaks very quietly, especially before and after the interview, and even quieter when he speaks German. You have to concentrate a lot to understand him, because he has a very quiet voice. This struck me most in such a powerful man,” said the journalist.

Xi Jinping makes Putin China’s official friend