By Vestnik Kavkaza
More than 1000 guests listened to an annual address by the President in the Kremlin yesterday. Vestnik Kavkaza found out that many of them have similar views to the President on key issues of Russian politics.
On the day of the address several terrorists killed three traffic policemen in Grozny; later they were surrounded in the Press House and a school. 10 policemen were killed and 28 were injured during the operation.
After Putin’s speech, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov stated: “He praised our guys; and I am proud that we have such men who provide security on the territory of the Russian Federation. Of course all Putin’s initiatives are in favor of our country, Russia.”
Ivan Melnikov, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma, pointed out that the President mentioned the terrorist attack in Grozny: “He commented on it, expressed gratitude to the young men who represent the law-enforcement agencies of Chechnya. Many problems such as development of the regions, which were mentioned by the President, directly concern the North Caucasus. I mean economic policy (an impetus for development of the territories is needed), social policy, employment of the population, implementation of new professions – a worker, a worker in the countryside, an engineer, and so on. He paid significant attention to security problems in his address.”
Putin cited the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin: “He who loves Russia should wish freedom for it; first of all freedom for Russia itself, its international independence; freedom for Russia is the unity of Russian and all other national cultures; and finally it is freedom for the Russian people, freedom for all of us; freedom for religion, the search for truth, creativity, labor and property.”
“I liked the citing of Ilyin about freedom,” Dmitry Kiselyev, the Director General of the Russian international information agency Russia Today, stated. “The President several times repeated the word. I think it is what Russia needs in a combination with love of country. And I was impressed by his comment on the events which are happening in the Caucasus and his belief in the Caucasus.”
The writer and publicist Alexander Prokhanov stated, citing Putin: “He said that Russia has been under Western pressure for centuries. If there were no incidents connected with Novorossia and Ukraine, there would be other reasons for putting pressure on Russia. He mentioned Hitler and the attack by fascists; i.e. he actually said that the Western attack on Russia has been continuing for centuries and gained awful forms. He said that the pressure was a mysterious and permanent constant. And Russian politics and Russian history should consider it.”
Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, saw “Putin’s stable confidence that, despite complicated external conditions, the sanction policy which he has mentioned several times, Russia has enough opportunities for protection of its national interests, even if it is alone, for improvement of its defensive capacity, responding to the challenges which could appear due to the USA's attempts to increase their military presence, including the system of missile defense global system. Moreover, the President is sure that Russia has a sufficient amount of resources for providing further development.”
Gennady Zyuganov, the head of the CPRF, likes that Putin pays a lot of attention to “regional policy, Crimea, Kaliningrad, the Far East. But we should remember that Russian power has always been in Siberia. I like that he thinks responsibility should be strengthened, local administrations and regional leaders should be appointed more thoughtfully. But our regions have huge debts – 2.5 trillion rubles of debts. We need different financial and economic, social, and agricultural policies. But an absolutely different cabinet of ministers is needed for this.”
Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen, said that “the address points out an idea of stability of conditions for providing business as the main factor of investment activity and reconstruction of economic growth, prevention of recession. The supervisory vacation, tax vacation, freezing of tax conditions will enable business to look optimistically to the future, despite situational fluctuations, high volatility of stock markets, world markets, business will confidently invest in the future due to the strategy.”
Vladislav Tretyak, the head of the Hockey Federation of Russia, states that “the address pays a lot of attention to the future generation. The President pointed out that we had smart pupils and potential. The speech was great. It united us. In a difficult situation, athletes and the state are always consolidated. We will solve internal problems by ourselves; we should be one team. The President expressed gratitude to the Olympic athletes who glorified our country and performed at the top level in Sochi.”
Iosif Kobzon, a singer, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Culture, said: “I am a citizen of my country, and we all live in the country, and we have no other country. All the aspects mentioned by the President were fundamental. He focused on the problems which are urgent for the country, possible ways out of the problems. It is a pointing finger. He pointed out what prevents our living and what we can do to live normally and better. We are in a difficult situation, but it doesn’t mean we should retreat. The President’s ideas on internal and foreign policies, industry, culture are directives for all branches, all ministries, and the whole country. Our people should realize that we should unite, be a united nation to do our best to improve the country’s life.”
Maria Kozhevnikova, an actress, a State Duma deputy, thinks that the main idea of Putin’s speech is that “we are open to the whole world, despite the situation which is going on. We are open, we are ready for cooperation, but we won’t let anyone use us. I think this is important. Of course education, healthcare – I work in these directions a lot, and I wish there were fewer cases of corruption, bureaucracy in the spheres, as it is a great obstacle. I hope many bureaucrats listened to the address. It was a soft, but a clear message right in time. I hope everyone will work.”
