Vladimir Putin quotes

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Public appearances of Vladimir Putin, Russian president, have provided numerous memorable quotes.

1 Quotations
2 References and notes

[edit] Quotations

[edit] Chechnya and terrorism

Putin on Chechen extremists, on September 24, 1999: "We'll follow terrorists everywhere. We will corner the bandits in the toilet and beat the hell out of them." ("мочить в сортире" in Russian, literally "wet (drawn) in toilet"):^[1]
In response to those who called Putin to enter talks with Chechen separatists after the Beslan school hostage crisis, in September 2004: "Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace? You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers? No one has a moral right to tell us to talk to childkillers."^[2]

In 2003 Putin said:

"Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster."

"People in Chechnya — just as throughout Russia — must have the possibility to live normally, to have rest and leisure and medical treatment and to raise and educate their children." [1]

[edit] Democracy

At the joint press conference with President George Bush in 2005, Slovakia, Putin said:

"Russia has made its choice in favor of democracy. Fourteen years ago, independently, without any pressure from outside, it made that decision in the interests of itself and interests of its people — of its citizens. This is our final choice, and we have no way back. There can be no return to what we used to have before. And the guarantee for this is the choice of the Russian people, themselves. No, guarantees from outside cannot be provided. This is impossible. It would be impossible for Russia today. Any kind of turn towards totalitarianism for Russia would be impossible, due to the condition of the Russian society."

From interview with TF-1 Television Channel (France), taken on July 12, 2006:

"I see that not everyone in the West has understood that the Soviet Union has disappeared from the political map of the world and that a new country has emerged with new humanist and ideological principles at the foundation of its existence."

"First, we are working hard now on creating a genuine multiparty system. {...} Second, we are redistributing powers between the federal, regional and municipal authorities."

Answering the question of Dutch TV station "Nederland 1" and Dutch newspaper "NRC Handelsblad", "Can you imagine a situation in which you would decide to remain in office for a third term?", Putin said: [2]

"I realize that 2008 will be an important test for Russia, and not an easy one.

At the same time, the Constitution of the Russian Federation states that the President, the head of state, is elected for four years through direct secret ballot and cannot stay in office for more than two consecutive terms.

I am not indifferent of course to the question of who will take in their hands the destiny of the country I have devoted my life to serving. But if each successive head of state were to change the Constitution to suit them, we would soon find ourselves without a state at all. I think that Russia’s different political forces are sufficiently mature to realize their responsibility to the people of the Russian Federation. In any case, the person who receives the votes of the majority of Russian citizens will become the President of the country."

[edit] Life in Russia

In 2005 Putin said:

"I will recall once more Russia’s most recent history.

Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.

Individual savings were depreciated, and old ideals destroyed. Many institutions were disbanded or reformed carelessly. Terrorist intervention and the Khasavyurt capitulation that followed damaged the country's integrity. Oligarchic groups — possessing absolute control over information channels — served exclusively their own corporate interests. Mass poverty began to be seen as the norm. And all this was happening against the backdrop of a dramatic economic downturn, unstable finances, and the paralysis of the social sphere.

Many thought or seemed to think at the time that our young democracy was not a continuation of Russian statehood, but its ultimate collapse, the prolonged agony of the Soviet system.

But they were mistaken.

That was precisely the period when the significant developments took place in Russia. Our society was generating not only the energy of self-preservation, but also the will for a new and free life." [3][4]

From Putin's Annual Address to the Federal Assembly on May 10, 2006:

"We have spoken on many occasions of the need to achieve high economic growth as an absolute priority for our country. The annual address for 2003 set for the first time the goal of doubling gross domestic product within a decade."

"Russia must realize its full potential in high-tech sectors such as modern energy technology, transport and communications, space and aircraft building."

[edit] Foreign policy and geopolitics

After saying the US shouldn't have gone into Iraq in the first place: "But if the U.S. were to leave and abandon Iraq without establishing the grounds for a united and sovereign country, that would definitely be a second mistake." [5]
"Russia’s modern foreign policy is based on the principles of pragmatism, predictability and the supremacy of international law."
"I stress that we unambiguously support strengthening the non-proliferation regime, without any exceptions, on the basis of international law." [6]
"A superpower is a cold war term. When people today say that Russia aspires to have this status, I interpret it in the following way: they want to undermine trust in Russia, to portray Russia as frightening, and create some kind of image of an enemy. Because those who want to continue with previous policies, with cold war policies, require an enemy. Without an external enemy it is difficult to have order in your own house. Without an external enemy it is difficult to achieve military discipline among one’s own allies and to convince them to make sacrifices that, in fact, are not necessary. Russia is in favor of a multipolar world, a democratic world order, strengthening the system of international law, and for developing a legal system in which any small country, even a very small country, can feel itself secure, as if behind a stone wall. In which any country, including a very small one, is not afraid and in which a superpower cannot break the rules with impunity for its own, and often egoistical, interests. Russia is ready to become part of this multipolar world and guarantee that the international community observes these rules. And not as a superpower with special rights, but rather as an equal among equals. And this is why we also need economic and military power — namely to help guarantee the respect for international law and equal rights among all participants of the international community." [7]

When journalist G. Feifer from National Public Radio asked him to clarify this statement and stated that "Moscow demonstrated that it will use its energy resources in its own interests", Putin said[8]:

"We are constantly being fed the argument that Russia is using its current and emerging economic levers to achieve its foreign policy goals. This is not the case. The Russian Federation has always abided by all of its obligations fully and completely, and it will continue to do so.

But we have no obligation to provide huge subsidies to other countries’ economies, subsidies as big as their own national budgets. No one else does this, and so why are we expected to do it? That is the first point.

Second, our actions, and the agreements we reach with the transit countries, are aimed above all at ensuring the interests of our main consumers. I can assure you that the experts understand this full well. Just recall how it was when we signed a contract each year with Ukraine for both gas supplies to Ukraine and for gas transit to Western Europe, and our consumers in Western Europe always depended on us being able to reach an agreement with our partners in Ukraine. But now we have separated these two aspects and created market conditions for transit.

As I just said, the experts understand this situation very well; thanking us would be more appropriate, but instead, we see a dishonest attitude to the interpretation of events taking place. This is, of course, the work of Russia’s ill-wishers. I am not suggesting that this is something going on at state level, but there are people out there who do not wish Russia well. The people who write these kinds of things, it’s them who are our ill-wishers. So, if you write these kinds of things, then you are among their number, but if you give an accurate and objective portrayal of events, then you are not counted in this category."

[edit] Economics

During a meeting with representatives of the Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company on May 13, 2006: "If there is no possibility or, to put it more simply, if there is no money... What can you do? You can't go to the store, you can't buy anything, neither a gun, nor a missile, nor medicine. For this reason the economy is at the basis of everything. At the beginning it was Karl Marx and then Freud and others..." [9]
"We still have a great amount of work to do in social development, including resolving one of the biggest challenges we face in this area, namely, reducing the gap between high-income earners and people, citizens of our country, who are still living on very modest means indeed. But we cannot, of course, adopt the solution used 80 years ago and simply confiscate the riches of some to redistribute among others. We will use completely different means to resolve this problem, namely, we will ensure good economic growth." [10]

[edit] The Comrade Wolf

In his 2006 annual address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin, comparing Russia's defense spending as a share of GDP to that of France and Britain, mentioned the United States:

"Their [US] defense budget in absolute figures is almost 25 times bigger than Russia's. This is what in defense is referred to as 'their home — their fortress'. And good on them, I say. Well done!

But this means that we also need to build our home and make it strong and well protected. We see, after all, what is going on in the world. The Comrade Wolf knows who to eat, as the saying goes. It knows who to eat and is not about to listen to anyone, it seems." [11]

The last two highlighted phrases in Russian are "Товарищ Волк знает кого кушать. Кушает и никого не слушает." (Romanization: "Tovarish volk znaet kogo kushat'. Kushaet i nikogo ne slushaet."). The explanation follows. Putin used the verb "кушать", which is translated as "to eat", but is used for children. Only little children can "кушать". The word "товарищ" has many meanings, not only the Communist Party official conversion (which will be regarded as an invalid translation), but also "comrade", "friend" and "companion". It is very difficult to find the right translation, because in that phrase, all possible meanings are used. The phrase sounds like simple poetry (in rhyme) for little children. The wording makes it sound like a piece of a fairy-tale like «Little Red Riding Hood» by Charles Perrault which is widely known in Russia under the name «Красная Шапочка» («Krasnaya Shapochka»). Arguably every Soviet-era kid also knows the melody of the song "Нам не страшен серый волк" ("We are not afraid of Gray Wolf") from another fairy tale, «The Three Little Pigs». Use of the word "товарищ" ("comrade") in combination with "волк" ("wolf") in the context of the whole phrase makes it sound very relaxing and humorous for adult ears.

There is also a very popular Russian animated film "Nu, pogodi!" for children. The main hero in the film is Wolf, who hunts Hare (another character). Wolf acts like a hooligan or capricious child, and tries to catch Hare - but always fails. In pursuit, Wolf breaks things which belong to others. The whole film is quite similar to the American Tom and Jerry series. After every failure, he threatens Hare with what he would do to him, when he is eventually caught. The suggestion here is that Putin compared the US to the animated Wolf, and not with actual animal.

Yet another reference to Wolf that is widely and immediately recognized by the Russian general public, and arguably most suited to the context of Putin's phrase, would be Wolf from Ivan Krylov's fable, «Волк и Ягнёнок» («Wolf and Lamb»). The fable starts with a preamble "У сильного всегда бессильный виноват: Тому в Истории мы тьму примеров слышим" ("The one who is stronger always makes the weaker guilty: We hear a lot of examples of this from History"). It then proceeds to describe how the Lamb comes to drink water to the watering place. He then encounters the Wolf who is hungry. The Wolf wants to make an affair look legal. So he tries to find various reasons to assign a guilt to the Lamb. All these attempts fail. Finally the Lamb asks "Ах, я чем виноват?" ("Oh in which way I am guilty?") and the Wolf replies "Ты виноват лишь тем, что хочется мне кушать." ("Your guilt consists in just my desire to eat you up!") The final words of the fable are these: "Сказал и в тёмный лес ягнёнка поволок." ("[Having said this, he] dragged the Lamb to the dark forest.")

The words "Кушает и никого не слушает" ("He eats and he is not listening to anyone") sound like a rhymed reference to another well-known Russian saying "А Васька слушает да ест" ("And Vas'ka is listening but keeps eating") from another Krylov's fable «Кот и повар» («Cat and Cook») where Cook reproaches Cat Vas'ka for stealing stuff from the kitchen. The cat is listening to what Cook has to say but never stops eating a chicken that he has just stolen. By the end of the fable the cat consumes the chicken completely as Cook goes on with his speech with no signs of it coming to an end. The end of the fable advices to take action instead of talking in vain in those cases when the talk has no effect.

A point to note is that Putin's phrases can have many meanings (being in their native Russian) and direct translations can sometimes be wrong.