Oliver Stone - The Putin Interviews

OS:Hello, Mr. President, how are you today?

VP:Okay, how are you?

OS:I’m tired today. Didn’t sleep well.

VP:I played hockey, but you’re the one who’s tired!

OS:Yeah, but your muscles hurt. I took a nice walk with my wife in the park.

VP:Oh, that’s wonderful.

OS:I was thinking about Sochi in the Fourth Century B.C.—what it must’ve been like.

VP:You know, Odysseus went to collect the Golden Fleece here.

OS:Yes, that’s what I’m saying—the Fourth Century, Fifth Century too. This is legendary.

VP:And when the travelers were approaching the place where the Sea of Azov unites with the Black Sea—that place is called Tanang here in Russia—and they decided that that place caused the descent to Tartarus, that is, to the underworld. Because in that place there were many underground streams, geysers and earthquakes all the time. In the United States there is a valley like that, and we have a similar valley in the Russian Far East.

OS:And also, Jason and the Golden Fleece, the Amazons in Theseus, all the horse-people. And also in Sochi, weren’t they like Americans looking for oil?

VP:No, it didn’t used to be like that. Right now we have certain plans to extract hydrocarbons here. We have to be cautious, because traditionally this place has been a resort in Russia. Not far from here, on the coast, there was quite a large oil refinery, and Exxon Mobil has shown some interest in using those ports and operating them.

OS:Last night we stopped at the 2007 Munich speech.

VP:I forgot about that.

OS:That’s okay.

OS:So recovering from 2001, when you made this alliance with the US to now—to 2016. But for the readers, I just want to recount quickly—bear with me as I recount the events and then you can correct me when I finish. So, you know, in the ’90s you’d been around and you’d certainly been aware of the US actions in Kosovo, and the bombing of Belgrade. And obviously the break-up of Yugoslavia. But in 2001, you offer an alliance and cooperation and friendship with the US administration and it leads of course to the disappointments and failures of the US-NATO coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq. In that period there’s a NATO expansion, another wave of NATO expansion, and the ABM Treaty of 1972 is cancelled by the United States. We have, in that same time period in 2004, you have the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. And we talked about it last night but I gather there is no threat to you—to Russia, yet, of a breakaway by Ukraine. It’s not considered. The factions in Ukraine start breaking up, start arguing with each other and fighting with each other, and the threat, the fear, of a unified Ukraine leaving Russian is not yet there.

I gather, in this same period, you’re a bit enamored of the idea of a partnership with the United States, and being courted by Wall Street, being encouraged by Wall Street. In 2004, for example, you’re seen singing with Sharon Stone. I want to remind you of that. Come over here, Fernando, and show him. It’s a very funny clip. [wrong clip plays] Well, keep trying because I would love to get his reaction to it.

So, your first term is coming to an end. In the middle of all this, and you told me a fascinating conversation on my first visit, in 2005 you complained to Bush about US support of terrorism in Central Asia. And that was an interesting story. And you said, I think it was the CIA had sent your Special Services a letter saying that they in fact supported the terrorists in Central Asia—something to that effect. Am I wrong?

VP:Yes, we had that conversation, but this was not about Central Asia. This was the following—according to the data we received, employees of the United States in Azerbaijan contacted militants from the Caucasus. And I told the US president about that, and he said that he would sort it out, and that he would look into it. Later, through our partner channels, we received a letter from the CIA which stated that “our colleagues thought they had the right to maintain contact with all the representatives of the opposition and that they were going to continue to do that.” It even named the employee of the US Special Services who worked in the US embassy in Baku.

OS:And all this while they’re fighting the war against terror in Afghanistan.

VP:I do not remember the exact year, but it seems like that.

OS:That seems like contradictory behavior and strange.

VP:We have gotten used to these contradictions. Back then I also thought this was somewhat contradictory. But this attitude when you want to use someone for your purposes and you don’t want to cooperate to achieve the goals your partners are pursuing, this certainly leads to mutual suspicion and this doesn’t create favorable conditions for efficient joint work.

OS:I guess the letter is top secret so it’s not available for viewing?

VP:I don’t think that would be appropriate. Suffice it to say that I already shared this information with you. Somewhere in the archives this letter is being kept. I think George [Bush] remembers our conversation. We met at an event in another country. I think it was the UK, but I don’t remember exactly.

OS:So now it’s 2008 and two big things happened in that year. The financial crisis hits the West, but it deeply affects Russia. It’s almost as if a rug were pulled out from under you.

VP:Yes, that was a troubling time.

OS:And Russia is told by Wall Street it has to change its ways?

VP:No, I wouldn’t say that. There was no dictate, we didn’t feel that. A lot was incumbent upon us. Back then I was the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation. According to the Russian constitution, the government is the supreme executive authority of the country and it is responsible for managing the economy of the country. And that’s why we acted quite swiftly elaborating an anti-crisis plan which provided support to the most vulnerable branches of our economy. We emphasized supporting the banking sector because that is the cardiovascular system of the whole economy. We tried to create conditions that would allow banks to not just get support from the government and from the central bank of Russia. We also wanted our banks to perform the main functions, that is providing lending, loaning money to the real economy. That was a real problem both to us and to the United States, to Europe. We needed to ensure, amidst great risks, that financial sectors flow into the real economy. [148] Background Information: After the financial crisis of 2008, world economies scrambled to recover. Russia’s approach was unique to its own economy. See, “Russia’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis,” Pekka Sutela, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (July 29, 2010) Retrieved at: carnegieendowment.org/files/russia_crisis.pdf

We set forth this special plan to fight unemployment, to create new jobs. And also actual plans to support the most vulnerable, the most damaged sectors of our economy. I refer in particular to the automobile industry, aircraft construction industry, and some of others. So one of the main goals that we were addressing was to ensure that we performed all our social obligations to the population. We had to pay salaries and pensions and social benefits.