Oliver Stone - The Putin Interviews

VP:He was trying to argue, probably, to incite a discussion. But I didn’t want to have a discussion with him, to debate this, because I have very much work to do.

OS:But I thought it was a good interview for you. I thought you were excellent, by the way. There were a couple of things you missed. But he’s a chess player and he’s trying to trap you and reinforce what the American public would like to believe. That’s my observation.

VP:I’m not trying to make you believe me. I try to express my point of view as clearly as possible on certain concrete issues. And besides, people have to understand for themselves whether what I’m doing is right or not, whether they believe me or not.

OS:As it should be. But you have to understand the American media landscape. Especially in this election year. The surface and some of the most shallow impressions dominate.

VP:I’m afraid, regrettably, that is the case everywhere.

OS:Yeah. Well, you’re a man of much thought and you’re very articulate. You make your points. My producer, Fernando, said I should ask you a question: do you ever lose it? He says you’re so rational every time you’re asked a question—do you ever have a bad day?

VP:Well, I’m not a woman so I don’t have bad days.

OS:[laughter] There you go. Now you’re going to insult about 50 percent of the American public—the way they’re going to take it.

VP:I’m not trying to insult anyone. That’s just nature.

OS:So, a woman to you tends to be more emotional and you don’t want to have your emotions ever cut in and control your reason?

VP:Well there are certain natural cycles and men probably have those too but they are less manifest. And I believe every person has days that are more difficult, other days when we are more efficient. We’re all human beings, so that’s just normal.

OS:How about you—do you ever have bad day?

VP:Yes, certainly. There are days that are overloaded with work. Sometimes I fail to achieve something. Sometimes I have doubts before I arrive at the best solution. But on the whole, it is a working process, the process for making decisions. And it is a positive one.

OS:Well, who do you like to scream at? Dmitry? You use Dmitry as a sounding board somehow? Sometimes you get pissed…

VP:Well, I share my concerns with my workers in those spheres which concern them directly. So I meet the president of the Central Bank and my adviser on economic issues. I meet the heads of the economic block of the government. After meeting with you, I’m going to have a meeting with the defense minister, with the head of the intelligence service.

OS:Later?

VP:Yes, today after we meet.

OS:Why don’t you cancel the meeting and have it Monday—take a day off?

VP:Well, that is out of respect for our American partners.

OS:Why?

VP:Because right now we’re engaged in an active dialogue with our American friends on a number of international issues on which we have to make a decision.

OS:So you’re talking about Syria right now, I guess?

VP:Yes. Including Syria.

OS:That’s today’s news. And we should talk about Syria because we didn’t get to it last night. So where do you see this thing going with Syria? How is Russia doing in this?

VP:I’d like to think that we are on our way. I think we are moving towards finding an acceptable solution. It’s one of those situations when no country can arrive at a solution unilaterally.

OS:[to Dmitry] Dmitry, does he scream at you?

DP: No, never.

VP:I never scream at all. Because when you scream you cannot hear well. You have to have people hear everything. And if you scream, if you raise the tone of your voice, then people are not very good at understanding the sense of what is being said to them.

OS:So all your energy, your aggressive energy, comes out in Judo in the morning or in exercise.

VP:Yes, I try to do that. It also requires some adrenaline.

OS:Yeah, and a good opponent.

VP:Yes.

OS:You have a trainer or a Judo master?

VP:No, well I used to have one. And I think I’m the master. Of course, the trainer is required for those people who want to perform in competitions and who want to get better. And I’m doing it just for exercise. And besides, I’ve been doing it since I was 13 or 14—on a permanent basis. There were no interruptions.

OS:So back to Syria—can you describe why you sent troops to Syria and what your objective was? Give us a little history of that and where you are now?

VP:Well, it’s very easy to explain. We see what has happened in certain countries of the region. I refer in particular to Iraq and to Libya. As to President el-Sisi of Egypt, the same thing did not happen in Egypt. Other countries are also in a difficult situation. But in Libya and in Iraq, a tragedy has transpired. And that has happened due to the forceful ousting of the current regimes. These regimes were destroyed—they were not simply ousted from power—the leadership was eliminated.

And we don’t want the same thing to happen in Syria, otherwise the whole region is going to be plunged into chaos. Moreover, if the same thing that happened in Libya happens in Syria, the position of radical organizations, terrorist organizations, are going to be solidified in a great manner. Right now they’re very strong because they control a vast part of the oil that is being extracted in that region.

OS:Who’s “they?” Terrorists?

VP:Terrorists, yes. So they sell museum artifacts, cultural artifacts, and they also receive aid from abroad and they have grown very powerful. And we should prevent them from getting even stronger. Because they are trying to create a Caliphate from southern Europe extending to Central Asia.

OS:Right. And this is the biggest concern here.

VP:Yes, it’s our biggest concern. But we also have some practical objectives. There are thousands of militants originating from former Soviet republics and from Russia who are fighting there. And they can get back to Russia. And we should prevent that from happening. All that combined has motivated us to take the measures that you’re aware of. At the same time we understand full well that the current leadership of Syria has made certain mistakes in building relations within their own country. And that’s why before making this decision, we have had a dialogue with President Assad. And we were told that he understands well the many problems that the country is facing, and he is not just willing to engage in a dialogue with the opposition groups—even the armed opposition—but he’s also willing to work together with them to elaborate a new constitution. [112] Background Information: “And it was sent out that he understands well many problems that the country is facing, and he is not just willing to engage in a dialogue with the opposition groups—even the armed opposition—but he’s willing to work together with them to elaborate a new constitution.” See, “Assad says he can form new Syria government with opposition,” Jack Stubbs and Lisa Barrington, Reuters (March 31, 2016). Retrieved at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN0WW1YO He is ready to agree that early presidential elections be put under very tight international supervision.