Putin's campaign words

He said, good day! Or should I say, good night! First of all, I am very happy to answer the questions of the reporters present, and I also want to address our citizens. I want to thank all the people who went to the polling station to vote in today's Russian presidential election!

I want to thank all those who voted for the current president and your loyal public servants, as well as those who voted for other candidates. In any case, even if your candidate fails to be elected president, this result is very important. This is very important to me, because this information is necessary for the current regime and me, and we must consider the opinions and opinions of politicians who voted. No matter how many voters vote for them. This is one of them.

Secondly, I want to thank all those who supported me in the general election and those who did not participate in the general election for some reason but had a good impression on me. Now it can be said that the result is satisfactory. I thank you very much, because this is the most important means of support and trust. Thank you very much.

In my opinion, the people who made this choice not only support the positive changes that have taken place in China in recent years, but also support moderate but positive improvements: we guarantee the stability and rapid growth of the national economy, social stability and national consolidation in recent years. In my opinion, it is not these simple achievements, but your loyal public servant and the current president's mood and dedication to working with you in recent years have won support.

In view of this, I hope you can trust me and assure you that in the next four years, I will do my best to make the government strengthen its work.

I assure you that all the democratic achievements of our people will be guaranteed. We will not be satisfied with what we have achieved, we will consolidate the multi-party system. We will strengthen civil society and do our best to ensure freedom of speech in the media. Moreover, we will establish such a system, so that no official can enrich himself under the guise of national interests, and no braggart can use the beautiful words of democracy for his own benefit. We will try our best to ensure the steady growth of our economy. There is no doubt that we will cherish economic and social stability, which we have said many times recently. I want to emphasize that stability is not an end. This is only the condition to solve the main task-to ensure the welfare growth of our people.

What we are doing at this stage is not welfare, nor the growth of welfare, but the star of welfare. Of course, we should cherish it, but on the basis of stability, we should take the next step to effectively protect the well-being of our people. We should take the next step in the economic and social fields. We will definitely do this.

Finally, in foreign relations, we will strive to safeguard the national interests of the Russian Federation. But under any circumstances, they will not defend their interests in an aggressive way, nor will they fall into confrontation. We will strive for our national interests flexibly and cooperatively. We will try to reach a compromise acceptable to us and our partners. We will try our best to create a good external environment for Russia's development.

That's all I want to say first.

Putin then answered the reporter's question.

Q: For you, if you look at four years ago, what's the difference? What's the difference between the last election and this one? Although the last election was the first time, it was not this time. But what is the difference between the two elections?

Putin: Of course there is a difference. You know, in fact, the second election is always more complicated than the first one. For the current regime, the situation is more complicated, because those in power are responsible for everything. Even if the current regime is not wrong according to the objective situation, it is wrong in the eyes of the people. So the second general election is always more complicated. Today's results are much more important than four years ago. What I want to say is that this not only arouses my inner satisfaction, but also has confidence in everything I have done in the past four years, and then I have confidence in the next four years.

The last general election was held four years ago, four months after I became prime minister and three months after I became acting president. During this time, I can only determine the pain points of our development and establish the main direction of our development. I think people at that time basically voted by their own intuition. After I worked briefly in two top positions in Russia, people trusted me and their intuition. Today, four years later, we have not only repeated this result, but also done it better. I repeat: this is an acknowledgement, or rather, a positive evaluation of what has been done in the past four years. I repeat: this is very important to me!

Q: I'm worried about the turnout rate in the general election. How do you evaluate the enthusiasm of voters today?

Putin: I wonder who is worried. In my opinion, the argument that the turnout rate is insufficient and not high is to consciously advise China citizens to vote less. According to the social analysis and research I know, the turnout rate is high enough. In my opinion, we can criticize the current regime, argue, disagree and blame, but we must not undermine the political process of the country. This is not only harmful, but also dangerous! On the eve of the election, I said in my speech to our citizens that Russia is a complex country at a turning point in its development, and it is unthinkable that there is no supreme state power and administrative organs. This will lead to chaos. Everyone will suffer. This is not allowed. This is not a political struggle, but destruction. In my opinion, people have not given in to destruction, which is a manifestation of our people's civic awareness.

Q: Tomorrow is your first working day after being elected. How will you work?

Putin: Work! This is the first working day. Go to work on weekdays During the day, we may make some changes according to the time. I mean, for many people, today's working day will end late or start too early. According to the practice in recent years, there are usually meetings with government leaders and working meetings with colleagues from various departments, governments and powerful institutions. There are also a series of telephone conversations with my colleagues, who have now offered to have a telephone conversation with me to discuss bilateral relations. I think we all know that this has something to do with the election results. People want to talk and congratulate. Usually, such telephone conversations are scheduled.

Q: As we all know, we are going to find a boxer immediately after voting today. What do you think of their situation? Why do you want to go to the boxing match?

Putin: You know, not long ago, I met with Olympic athletes, and some athletes invited me to the base to watch their training. It happened that the first person who invited me was a boxer. Frankly speaking, I am very interested to see under what conditions our athletes who have achieved unique results are trained. I want to remind you that this is just a substitute team. At the last European Championship, they won 9 of the 1 1 possible gold medals. At the last World Championship held in China, they won 9 of the 12 gold medals in Perm. I thought it was just an accident. Now they have proved that there is no chance. They are the most powerful in Europe. I get great satisfaction from communicating with them. Boys are very competitive and attractive. I think we have a chance to get good results in boxing at the Olympic Games.

Q: Congratulations on your victory! Allow me to ask a question: What are your priorities in diplomatic activities?

Putin: I can only say that the main purpose of our policy is not to show imperial ambitions, but to ensure a good external environment for Russia's development. There is nothing unusual here. We will adhere to a multilateral foreign policy, we will cooperate with the United States and the European Union, we will cooperate with our Asian partners China and India, and we will cooperate with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Geographically speaking, Russia is also a Eurasian country. So far, under the guidance of these considerations of foreign policy, everything we have done will help us realize our task of developing Russia. I hope that the former foreign minister who is now leading the Russian security conference can make use of the positive things formulated in recent years, and together with the new foreign minister who has rich experience in working in the United Nations, we can formulate effective means for the foreign policy of the Russian Federation.

Q: What do you think is the most important thing in the internal affairs reform?

Putin: First of all, the means to consolidate democracy is to develop a multi-party system and a practical multi-party system. So that political parties in the federal sense can have real influence at the local level. In this way, local governments can influence the highest power and administrative organs in Russia through political parties. This is the main goal.

I think that if we solve this task, Russia's political system will be balanced. We should create conditions to develop political parties with different tendencies so that all voices, big or small, can be heard on the national political stage. As I said, we should create more conditions to consolidate civil society. If we succeed in these aspects, it will create a good soil for building a modern economy.

Q: As we all know, this election started as early as the last one. Do you have any ideas about who to choose as your successor and when to start choosing candidates?

Putin: The selection of candidates began a long time ago, four years ago. I also have a concept of what this person should be: this is a decent person, an honest person, who intends to and can serve his own people, and can do it with his own talent and personal morality. There are many such people in our country.

Q: Can you explain why your votes have increased greatly compared with the last election?

Putin: To be honest, I have been working hard all these years. When I took office four years ago, I said this: I will work honestly. I assure you that I have fully fulfilled my promise in this respect. I don't think people will be indifferent to this I am very grateful to those who realized this and voted for me today.

Q: An hour ago, kozak, the leader of your campaign headquarters, told us that he thought the president could not do whatever he wanted during his first term, because he had to consider running for re-election. The second term really began to "work that goes down in history." Do you agree with this view? Are you ready to "name history"? Second question: Do you feel lonely in this election?

Putin: No, because I am working hard. A person will never be lonely when doing practical things. This is one point. The second point: what matters to me is the result after all. This is not empty talk. I don't know if you have noticed, but I really didn't do any special publicity. If I take part in the election, the result may be different and the turnout rate will be higher. But I didn't do it consciously, because I wanted to see if people paid more attention to practical work than campaign skills, which was very important to me. Therefore, I haven't actually changed my work style in the past four years, even during the election campaign. The election result is very important to me. Of course, I am very satisfied with this.

As for whether I am ready to "work for fame", no, I'm not going to. In my opinion, it is unnecessary and impossible to follow some absurd ideas that people don't understand. We should work for present and future generations. Should always be based on the soil of reality.

Not long ago, when I answered a question from one of your colleagues, I said, "The art of politics lies in finding the golden section between necessity and possibility." I came up with this formula myself. Maybe others have made statements on other occasions, but I think it's my own idea. Stability, as mentioned just now, the stability that we cherish so much today is a necessary condition for development. The goal of development is the welfare of citizens. In order to achieve this goal, we must take corresponding steps in economic and social modernization. This needs to be carried out in an orderly way, and it can't be harmful without any benefit, and it can't make people lose confidence in what we do. Because if it brings such consequences, we can't do anything in the future.

Therefore, we will modernize our country, we will take firm steps, and at the same time, we will try our best to explain every step we take. Let people understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what goals we are going to implement in the economic and social fields. I think some people will disagree and oppose our reform. But in any case, the government will try to make everyone understand what we are doing. I think that if we reach such a coordination mechanism with the society, with the understanding and support of the people, we can really accomplish a lot of work.

But I stress once again that it is wrong to pursue the historical role of individuals according to a certain theoretical concept.

Q: I understand that the so-called historic work should refer to the unusual decisions made by the president.

Putin: As I said just now, if we make what is usually called an unusual decision, first of all, it refers to the reform in the social field, then the government should explain clearly what steps they want to take, why they want to do so, and what goals they expect to achieve, and it must be carried out in the process of extensive social discussion and listening to various opinions, which is the proverb "seven measurements, one tailoring".

Q: Please be specific about the priority areas of your future work.

Putin: This point has been said many times. I want to reiterate. Our main task is to ensure economic growth. We should continue to take measures to improve the tax system and take necessary measures to reorganize the natural monopoly departments. Recently, even this week, I elaborated on this point. I hope we can do this. With regard to railway transportation and the electricity and energy sectors, we have just adopted the Basic Law. We need to take further measures.

Back to the last question, I want to emphasize once again that our approach must be orderly, because mistakes are too costly, but action is necessary and we will take action. In the social field, of course, we should pay special attention to the reform of the pension system. Take clear measures to provide high-quality services in the field of health education. Of course, there are still many goals with special social significance to be achieved. That's what I'm talking about.

Q: Does the "following" natural monopoly reform you mentioned include "National Natural Gas Industry Corporation"?

I am not talking about the reform of the following natural monopoly sectors, but the following steps must be taken to continue the ongoing reform. As for "National Natural Gas Industry Corporation", it should be said that our economic growth depends largely on it. Because we all know that natural gas for daily use and industrial use in our domestic market is sold below the cost price. We rely on the National Natural Gas Industry Corporation to ensure economic growth in many other sectors. This is a fact that we should not forget. Therefore, if we want to push all departments to the market at once, the price of natural gas we sell to domestic consumers will rise to11USD/thousand cubic meters tomorrow, which is the same as the price we sell to western Europe. It is out of the question. Since this is impossible, we should cherish the "National Natural Gas Industry Corporation". But this doesn't mean that the department doesn't need to move anything, and it can't move. The department should at least ensure the supply of natural gas in the domestic market and allow independent producers to exploit it freely. Of course, they also need to understand that this does not mean that they can freely enter foreign markets. It should be made clear to ensure the transparency of the shares of "National Natural Gas Industry Corporation".

Q: Can you outline the basic principles of the relationship between the Authority and business representatives in the next four years?

Putin: Stability, Transparency and Legitimacy.

Q: Are there any plans to reorganize the president's office?

Putin: Yes.

Q: Can you talk about it now?

Putin: No.

Q: When can I speak?

Putin: 10 days.

Q: When do you think it is possible to evaluate the operation of the new government and make a preliminary evaluation of the members of the new government team?

Putin: An evaluation can be made on Monday. The work of the new government has begun. I can't sleep all day. The salary has been calculated since the date of appointment. If the salary is drawn and you get the money, you should think about what the money is for.

Q: What do you think of the statement made by Powell and Rice today on the Russian election process?

Putin: First of all, I have a good relationship with them. We also know the political life and the distribution of political power in the United States. To a large extent, their statements are driven by domestic political needs. This is the first point.

Secondly, we will listen to all criticisms and will not turn a deaf ear. We will make an analysis, and if there is something worth thinking about, we will take it seriously and draw corresponding conclusions.

Finally, thirdly, I don't think anyone has the right to think that if they criticize others, it means that they have nothing to criticize. As you may know, there is a Russian proverb. Because you are proficient in Russian, we have a proverb: You can see the sand in others' eyes, but you can't see the wood in your own eyes. Many so-called developed democratic countries also have many problems in their democracy, including election procedures. About four years ago, we were surprised to find that the American electoral system was so chaotic. Therefore, I hope that while criticizing us, they will also draw corresponding conclusions for themselves and improve their democratic procedures. In a word, I think it is beneficial if we treat each other's shortcomings and shortcomings in a friendly way. In my opinion, this should not lead to conflict, but should make our democratic system and election procedures more perfect.

Q: Have you ever paid attention to the campaign activities of your competitors and political opponents? They also criticized you a lot. Do you think there are reasonable elements in these criticisms? Have you learned anything new from these criticisms?

Putin: You know, I'm not contemptuous, just busy. I can't pay serious attention to everything in the election campaign, including the debate. Many remarks in the TV debate are correct. We all want to live a good life, and we all want to be healthy and rich. The question is how to achieve this goal. Why is the current regime always more difficult in elections? Because it has something to criticize. And those who watch and criticize are not easy to be hit. Because they seem to have nothing to criticize, because they have done nothing. I repeat, all the competitors in my campaign are well-deserved in my opinion. They showed a good level of knowledge and brave quality. They understand the problems of the country and draw the attention of Russian citizens and representatives of the authorities to these problems. I think the election is good for all of us.

Q: Now we can talk about the topic of heirs cautiously. Have you ever thought about what you will do after you leave office in four years?

Putin: I haven't started working in the next four years, and you have already let me retire.

Of course, I sometimes think about this problem, but now I should concentrate on doing a good job in the next four years. Doing a good job in a new job is no easier than the work in the past four years. The president's office will be transformed accordingly, and the government will keep up with the same speed and pace. This is what we should consider now! Of course, the eighth year will be an unusual year, which I know very well. Of course, we should all consider this problem. However, I think the less we think, the more we have achieved in these four years-all of us together. At that time, 2008, though fierce in political sense, will not put us on the brink of unsolvable problems such as political system and national disintegration. On the contrary, the smoother our work in the past four years-I want to emphasize that this is the work of all of us-the easier it is for us to deal with the problems in 2008 from a complex political point of view.

One last question.

Q: Your political opponents often don't participate in TV debates. How do you answer them?

Putin: This is boring. I don't think it means anything to the current president. Because all my words and deeds have been shown in these four years. I am fully aware of every word of my opponent. In my opinion, this kind of game is meaningless, because either others agree or the participants already know the result of the game. In my opinion, our strategy of choosing not to participate in TV debates in the election campaign is well-founded.

Again, I could have used all kinds of campaign means, such as TV debate, dancing and singing. However, even people who are far away from politics can really feel a lot of things with their hearts. For more than four years, even ordinary citizens who don't engage in politics and don't care about politics every day can well understand what is happening in China and know what will happen in the next few years. I think this is the most important thing. The election results once again proved this reaction of the people. This is a positive response.