Author: VK
Last week, the Russian president held in Moscow the traditional press conference, which was attended by more than 1,000 Russian and 200 foreign journalists. Reporters from the Caucasus also managed to ask their questions.
Speaking on the prospects for the relations between Russia and Georgia, Putin said: “We are seeing positive signals, very restrained so far but nevertheless positive, from the new Georgian government. And of course we not only see the fact that the Georgian government has appointed a special representative to normalise relations with Russia, we welcome it too. And as you see, we responded in the same way, otherwise there would have been no meeting with Karasin. We will respond in the same way, but I want to draw your attention to a problem that is well-known. It stems from the fact that the incumbent President, Mr Saakashvili, has turned the current situation into a dead-end. Frankly, I do not really understand how to get out of this. Russia can’t revoke its recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. We can’t do so by definition. But Georgia can’t agree to recognise their independence either. I have no idea what we can do about this. We truly would like to normalise relations with Georgia. And to be perfectly honest, from an economic standpoint Georgia is even more interested in this than Russia. But we are not planning on turning up our nose and saying that we do not need this. No, we think that relations between two very close nations must be normalised, and we need to try and facilitate this. I do not know how to overcome the most difficult problems in our relationship, but because there are people who are willing to work on this in a professional way, let’s think about it together”.
As for the situation in the Caucasus, the Russian president said that “in the Chechen Republic it is different for the better, and this is not only due to the fact that in Chechnya fewer crimes of terrorist and other criminal orientation are committed, it is largely the merit of the regional authorities, as well as development of the economic aspects of the life of the republic. We've talked about this, you are well aware of this: the revival of Grozny is the great merit of the Chechen people. Of course, this was not done without the support of the whole of Russia, but without the direct participation of the Chechen people this would be impossible. As for the problems of the Caucasus as a whole, today, firstly, the number of terrorist acts and the number of terrorism-related crimes in the country are fewer than earlier, there are clear statistics. But these crimes and terrorist acts are still committed, and there is loss of life. This is always a tragedy. The main problem now is not only improving the performance of law enforcement, although this is needed. Still, social and economic issues are at the forefront: the creation of new, high-quality and well-paid jobs. I have already mentioned that over the whole country we have 5.2 to 5.3 percent unemployment, this is one of the lowest rates in the developed world. But in the Caucasus it is different. In the Caucasus, there are such rates as 15 and 20 and 25 percent, and among young people this rate is even more. This is problem number one. Young people need to get a job, constructive work, we need to give them the opportunity to learn. All of this, along with the advancement of modern ideas of humanism and patriotism, all of this together, I am sure, will bring positive results. But it is serious, large and systematic work”.
Commenting on the situation in the Stavropol Territory with hijabs, Putin said: “It is necessary, of course, to work with all Russian citizens, wherever they go and wherever they come. They must respect the customs and culture of the places and the people, where they came to settle. To do this, we need to conduct intensive care, especially in regions that are donors of migration flows, where people go mainly for economic reasons. We need to rely on local clergy, local moral authorities and with the help of parents, with the help of NGOs, we need to educate young people, wherever they move. If we act immediately in these directions: strengthening law enforcement and improving its activities, fighting corruption in government bodies, including the police - if we will do it consistently and persistently, not abusing any of these tools, we will achieve a positive result. And we need to pay special attention to the Stavropol region, because there really are a lot of issues and problems that you have mentioned. As for the hijab: you know that in our culture (when I say – our culture, I mean the traditional Russian Islam) there is no hijab. I've already talked about it once in public, I can repeat it now: I once attended one major Muslim event - the International Islamic Conference. We are observers in this organization - I initiated, by the way, our arrival there as observers. This is a great meeting of almost all influential people of the Islamic world. One of the leading authorities of Islam in his public speech surprised me – he suddenly said, "What do we do? We do not allow our girls and women to learn, we put them in a burqa, we create the conditions for us to lag behind in development. This is a mistake, we cannot do this. " Further, however, he continued: "We have to buy weapons from our enemies (but I then said to him: "Buy weapons from your friends ")." But he also spoke frankly and publicly. So, in the Islamic world there are authorities of Islam that say that it is not necessary to do this. And we also won’t accept these traditions, And of course, we all need to pay attention to it, and just talk about it, and, of course, rely on the representatives of traditional Islam. As you know, these are fearless men who gave their lives to protect the common ideals that are passed from generation to generation by the representatives of the Muslim peoples of the Russian Federation”.
