Oliver Stone - The Putin Interviews

OS:I understand that—I said “if”.

VP:Well, it’s not about the subjunctive mood you know—we shouldn’t use it.

OS:Mr. Putin, I don’t doubt for one moment your love and pride in serving Russia. It’s clear you’re a son of Russia and you’ve done very well by her. I think we all know the price of power, and when we’ve been in power for long, we feel people need us. At the same time, we’ve changed and we don’t even know it sometimes.

VP:Indeed—this is a very dangerous state. And for persons in power who feel they have lost it, this nerve, this bond connecting this person to the country and to the rank and file citizens of the country, it’s time for them to go. But in the end, it’s something I’ve already said, and I’m going to repeat it—the ordinary citizens and voters, they are the ones who decide the future of power. No doubt power is connected to a great burden and it requires sacrifice.

OS:There is also great grace in yielding power. And many great examples of men and women who had succeeded in history and who gave up the desire to rule and let someone else do it.

VP:For everyone, there comes a time when you have to do it.

OS:And of course, democracy itself, whatever we call it, is flawed. And America’s system is hardly perfect. We know that money often buys power in America. Certainly Russia has a flawed system, everyone says it from outside. No one could say that it’s a system that’s wholly responsive to the voters. The voters in Russia are probably split on many lines—a lot of chaos might result and that is always a danger. And given the short history of Russia and its democratic experiment which you said has only existed since 1991-92, it is very unlikely that the next election will convince the world that this is a functioning democracy, unless international monitors are brought in, as Mr. Chavez did in Venezuela, so that it became a really transparent process.

VP:Do you think our goal is to prove anything to anyone? Our goal is to reinforce our country, to make our country better for life, more attractive, to make our country more valuable, to turn our country into something that could respond swiftly to the challenges of time. To strengthen it from the internal political point of view, and to strengthen our external political stance as well. Those are the goals we are pursuing. We’re not trying to please anyone.

OS:That is a dangerous argument because it works both ways. Those who abuse power always say it’s a question of survival.

VP:We’re not talking about survival and we’re not trying to justify ourselves. Are we talking about the need to keep this or that authority in emergency conditions? Right now there is no emergency situation. What we have to do is to ensure a stable, sustainable development of the country. So in taking into account all of the negative tendencies you’ve been talking about, the Soviet legacy, the imperial legacy—that’s something of the past. But we also have to think about the positive legacy that’s been passed down to us. Russia has been built over a thousand years. It has a tradition of its own. We have our notions of what is just and unjust. We have our own understanding of how an efficient government should work. When I said that the Russia of the future should be very mobile, that it should respond swiftly to the challenges of the times, it should adapt efficiently, this means we should use everything we have as the groundwork, but still we should look into the future. This is not about helping someone cling to power, or cling to power myself, this is about ensuring economic growth, sustain its rate, improve the quality of life, including the defense capabilities, on a regular basis. Not amid crises or political difficulties. There is only one criteria to help us with regard to power. There is the law and there is also the Constitution. If the Constitution is violated or if it’s twisted to suit the interests of this or that group or this or that individual, then that is unacceptable. But if a democratically accepted constitution is observed, then this has to be treated with respect.

OS:I don’t doubt that the Constitution of Russia is a great constitution, it’s always the execution of it that’s been problematic. And I have no problem with the Asian economies, the “tiger economies” with Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, for example, announced he was going to make an authoritarian regime that would work and would make the economy work and the economy would come first in Asia—very practical. South Korea, Japan to some degree, certainly Taiwan, and then ultimately China. China emerged with a very strong party and a major power but definitely not a democracy. So I don’t know that it’s necessary to dress up the language in democracy.

VP:There’s no need to disguise anything or to dress it, but there are some fundamentals like the constitution of Russia which I’ve been talking about. It has never been questioned as a constitution of a democratic society, a democratic country. Since the constitution was devised it was considered as such. No one said there were flaws that allowed someone to talk about the undemocratic nature of Russian society. If you tried to twist this constitution to suit the interests of an individual or group, then suspicions certainly might emerge. But if this doesn’t happen, then we have to treat what is happening with respect.

OS:Okay. So what time is it?

VP; It’s time.

[laughter]

OS:Thank you very much.

VP:You’ve never been beaten before in your life?

OS:Oh yes, many times.

VP:Then it’s not going to be anything new, because you’re going to suffer for what you are about to do.

OS:No, I know… but it’s worth it. It’s worth it to try to bring some more peace and consciousness to the world.

VP:Thank you so much.

[Stone hands Putin the DVD case.]

OS:You might want to watch this at some point.

[Putin thanks Stone, waves, walks away, opens the DVD case, sees nothing inside. Everyone laughs.]

VP:Typical American gift!

[Rob takes the DVD out of the player and gives it to Putin.]

OS:Hello gentlemen. So, you are going to sit here, Mr. Putin. I’m going to sit here. You remember Anthony from our first shoot—Anthony Dod Mantle—he’ll be our cinematographer. The plan is for you to walk in and walk in that door.

[Mr. Putin walks in]

OS:I would prefer you to come from back there. I will meet you halfway.

VP:I can descend from the balcony…

OS:I like it better from there. It gives you some depth. In fact, there’s a bar back there if you’d like…. Further back, further back. Good. All right, ready? [smiling] Now, pretend like we don’t know each other—pretend we haven’t seen each other in months. Okay. Action! [pause] Action! Where’s my A.D.? Tell him “action” in Russian. He went into another meeting! Oh no!

Interpreter: He’s bringing you tea.

[Putin comes from the other room carrying two cups of coffee]

VP:Coffee, Mr. Stone?

OS:Thank you.

VP:Black okay?

OS:Fine…

VP:Sugar?

OS:Thank you Mr. President. How’ve you been? It’s been a long time.

OS:There’s been quite a lot of activity the last few months. My country, America, has had an election.