Putin chides critics of his record on Russian democracy
MOSCOW – As high-profile opposition figures concluded a two-day “Other Russia” gathering Wednesday to press for greater democracy, Russian President Vladimir Putin used a series of television interviews to fire back at his domestic and foreign critics.
Putin made a personal jab at U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for remarks in May in which Cheney attacked Putin’s record on democracy and accused Moscow of using oil and gas as tools of geopolitical blackmail.
“I think that these kinds of comments from your vice president amount to the same thing as an unfortunate shot while out hunting,” Putin said, according to a transcript of an interview with NBC that was released by the Kremlin. Putin’s comment referred to a hunting accident in Texas during which Cheney wounded a companion.
The bid by Putin and his critics to shape the terms of debate over democracy in Russia form part of the run-up to a summit of the Group of 8 leading industrialized countries due to open Saturday in St. Petersburg. While not part of the official agenda, the state of Russian democracy is expected to be one of the key topics.
Western concerns over Russia’s direction under Putin have been fanned by a steady consolidation of central authority during his presidency.
Critics say that with all three national television networks effectively under state control, the elimination of direct election of governors, and growing pressure on non-governmental organizations, Russia should no longer be considered a democracy.
In his television interviews, Putin ridiculed the idea that he was dismantling Russian democracy.
“As Mark Twain said in respect to his own life, the rumors of the death of our democracy are highly exaggerated,” Putin told NBC.
In interviews both with NBC and France’s TF-1 television, Putin counterattacked by charging that the U.S. bid to spread democracy had a colonialist tone.
“If we go back 100 years and look through the newspapers, we see what arguments the colonial powers of that time advanced to justify their expansion into Africa and Asia,” Putin told French television.
“They cited arguments such as playing a civilizing role, the particular role of the white man, the need to civilize ‘primitive peoples,’ ” he continued. “We all know what consequences this had. If we replace the term ‘civilizing role’ with ‘democratization,’ then we can transpose practically word for word what the newspapers were writing 100 years ago to today’s world and the arguments we hear from some of our colleagues.”