Oliver Stone - The Putin Interviews

OS:Well, let’s be cynical and just assume that if I was the United States leadership, it makes practical sense now to have a coup d’état in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, and take over. Because if we’re going to go to all these wars, we might as well take over Saudi Arabia because that would solve everything for us.

VP:Why?

OS:Clean solution.

VP:And what would it solve?

OS:Well, we wouldn’t need Iraqi oil, we wouldn’t need Iranian oil.

VP:It only seems to be a simple solution.

OS:I was joking.

VP:I understand, but if some unpredicted events should happen in Saudi Arabia, the international energy market is going to be so volatile and it’s going to hit so hard that we’ll be regretting that. I think the producers, the consumers, are interested in a stable price, in a justified price. But no one is interested in volatility in the market. Everyone has to be able to forecast their development and their consumption.

OS:Last question—is there any hope for cold fusion?

VP:I don’t know. You have to talk to the specialists, the experts.

OS:I thought Russia might have an idea about it.

VP:Traditionally this field of research has been well developed in Russia. I mean research in this field, in the nuclear field, and without any exaggeration I am confident that our scientists are at the front edge of this field of research.

OS:Is there any hope?

VP:Hope—there is hope always. And I’m convinced that sooner or later solutions will arrive which we cannot even imagine right now. But new problems will arrive too, which we will have to face.

OS:So you’re an optimist?

VP:Cautious optimist.

OS:Always. Thank you, Mr. Putin.

VP:As to the situation in the Middle East, and the complexity of the difficulties this region is going through. The prime minister of Israel, Mr. Sharon, once told me when I was paying a visit to Israel, he said, “Mr. President, right now you are in a region where no one can ever be trusted on any matter.” I think by that time he had already gone through so much, through so many tragedies, that he had ceased to believe in there being any positive shift, any positive change in the region. But I for one believe that sooner or later this region is going to become tranquil again. People will find a balance in which the region is going to be able to exist in a relatively safe mode, however difficult the solution of these problems might seem right now.

OS:Or Moscow will be a Caliphate.

VP:We’re going to prevent that. You should watch out so that Washington doesn’t turn into a Caliphate.

OS:Well, first of all, I want to say it was exciting to be at the parade. It was a beautiful, wonderful day.

VP:Was that the first time you’ve seen the parade?

OS:Yes. I wish I could have come last year, but, anyway… The marching, the precision, the pride—it was very powerful.

VP:They’ve been preparing for six weeks.

OS:I liked the women troops too.

VP:This is the first time the women’s battalion has participated.

OS:It’s a shame the US ambassador was not there. I’d like to ask you, overall, can you reflect on the last year from when you had the 70th anniversary—your feelings on the security of Russia. Has it changed since last year?

VP:Are you referring to the internal or external security?

OS:Both.

VP:I think that Russia is thoroughly protected. We have implemented a program to re-arm our fleet and military forces so that 70% of our weaponry and armed forces should live up to the highest international standards. We are restructuring our armed forces. The number of those working on the basis of a military contract is increasing. That is compared to the structure currently where most of our military are conscripts. Because we need military professionals—those with a very high level of education to operate the new military systems.

OS:So it sounds like you are following the Pentagon example of using contractors.

VP:Yes, to a certain extent, but not entirely. We’re still keeping a great number of conscripts.

OS:But in Russia you must serve, right?

VP:Yes.

OS:So that’s important to the concept of this day, May 9th.

VP:Yes, absolutely. In our country, serving in the army has always been received as a responsibility and duty, but also as a sacred right. As the authority of the Russian armed forces is growing, the number of those who want to serve in the army, who want to be trained in military institutions and universities has grown as well.

OS:What is the state of the Pacific forces?

VP:To a large extent, we have increased the number of our forces stationed there.

OS:Increased? Why?

VP:We have increased the number of our military as a whole. Our target is 1 million new who will serve. Right now we have 1.2 million people serving. But we have reduced to a large extent the numbers stationed in the Russian Far East. Given the size of Russia—Russia is still the largest country in the world—we need an armed force that is able to guarantee our security at any point all across Russia, and we are trying to do that, to achieve that. That is why we’re going to develop a network of our airports and our airbases—to increase the ability of our armed forces to deploy rapidly when necessary. We’re also going to develop transport, aviation—that’s what we’re doing right now—and also our naval fleet.

OS:What do NATO and the US think of these exercises today?

VP:I think you’ll have to ask them. I can say what I think about what they are doing. What are they doing? Last year they carried out at least 70 exercises within the close proximity of Russian borders, and that certainly draws our attention. And that means that we have to respond in some way. Last year we adopted a new national security strategy. There are no revolutionary themes. This is a document which is designed to help us build a security system. But our main task is not about confrontation or intimidation. This is about building conditions for co-operation on security in the areas which we believe are the most challenging, the most menacing to us and to our neighbors.

You asked about NATO and unfortunately it was not our initiative that back in 2014, NATO cut off all contact with us in the framework of the Russia-NATO council. [135] Claim: “it was not our initiative that back in 2014, NATO stopped all contact with us in framework of the Russia-NATO council.” Supporting: See, “Ukraine crisis: Nato suspends Russia co-operation,” BBC (April 2, 2014). Retrieved at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26838894 And within the previous months, we’ve heard it said often that Russia was responsible for that, but we are not. We didn’t want to cut this contact and we’re not the initiators of that. And just recently, at NATO’s initiative, we had first contacts—I think it was at the level of ambassadors—and we have to follow up on that. We have to seek common ground, there are many conflicts, many challenges that we can rise up to together.