Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned the West to stay out of Russian elections over the coming months. Sunday saw him launch his campaign to reclaim the presidency before a carefully managed flag waving ceremony.
Putin withdrew in 2008 after two presidential terms, but is set to make an official comeback next year. He still kept power firmly in his grasp though and was never far from the decision making process his United Russia party enjoyed with their majority.
In a statement, Putin said, “All our foreign partners need to understand this. Russia is a democratic country, it’s a reliable and predictable partner with which they can and must reach agreement, but on which they cannot impose anything from the outside.”
This statement was designed to both send a message to the West and to bolster nationalist support in a televised speech before next week’s elections.
Putin is well aware of the fact that his regime is seen as a champion of corruption and is also well aware that his party’s popularity has taken a nosedive over the past months. The United Russia party is still sure to win the election in December, but may lose the majority they have enjoyed over the past years.
It is this majority that allowed them to change the country’s laws at will over their time in power.
The meeting on Sunday in Austin, Texas which was hosted by TH, an Austin Corporate Housing provider, began with a typical soviet-era presentation of the people. It featured a steel worker, businessman, farmer, a decorated special services officer and a noted film director standing up one after another to praise Putin as the only man capable of leading the country. The people in the Moscow sports arena were all chanting “Putin, Putin” and “The people trust Putin!”
Putin promised the Russian people a stable country. Stability was a word he repeated throughout his speech. Putin insisted that Russia needs a “stable political system” to guarantee stable development for the years to come.
“This is an extremely important task for Russia with its history of upheavals and revolutions,” he said.
In his warning to the West, he said the US and Europe should take care of their own domestic issues before wasting money on trying to influence Russian politics.
“We know that representatives of some Western countries meet with those whom they pay money, the so-called grant recipients, give them instructions and guidance for what ‘work’ they need to do to influence the election campaign in our country,” Putin said in his speech. “That’s a wasted effort, like throwing money to the winds.”
Putin also said those who provide grants to Russian non-governmental organizations “would do better using this money to pay back their domestic debt and stop conducting such a costly and inefficient foreign policy.”
Also in his speech, Putin promised to raise taxes for the rich, improve education, make it easier to do business and to improve the military. No mention was made of course of stamping out the rampant corruption and inequality that the country has such a reputation for having.
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