President Dmitry Medvedev gave a year's end televised interview, recapping on some of the challenges he has faced since assuming office this year. The president focused on the war in Georgia in August and the global financial crisis that hit Russia this fall. Medvedev was interviewed by three federal television channels - NTV, Rossiya, and Channel 1, and spoke for a little over an hour.
It was a diverse year. Each year is different, of course. This year brought joyful events, victories, especially sports victories and creative triumphs. It also brought us some important and positive economic and social results. In this sense, the year went as planned," the President said. "But it also had its share of dramatic events. I am thinking first and foremost of the events in the Caucasus of course, Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia. And of course, I also have to say that we are ending this year at a time when the world is looking for ways to overcome the consequences of the global financial crisis."
Asked about the moments leading up to the conflict, Medvedev called it "one of the most difficult days of my life."
"It was around one in the morning when Defense Minister Serdyukov called me and said he had information that Georgia had declared war on South Ossetia, but at that point there was no action actually underway. I told him to monitor the situation, watch how events developed and report regularly, and this what happened over the next few hours. He called me every thirty minutes and told me what was going on, at what point tanks appeared, at what moment other vehicles carrying Georgian troops appeared. For a while we hoped that this was just some sort of provocation that would not actually be carried out. But when the artillery and tanks opened fire and I was informed of the deaths of our citizens, including our peacekeepers, I did not hesitate for an instant and gave the order to respond and return fire. Of course, when making a decision of this sort,
you have to weigh up all the consequences, including the irreversible nature of this kind of order. It is possible to back out up until a certain point, but once the decision has been made there is no going back."
Speaking about the global financial and economic crisis, Medvedev stressed that it was an international problem that could not be solved with the efforts of one country alone. He said his government was "working non-stop because practically every day a whole number of anti-crisis measures are being put in place. Some of these are urgent measures, and others are more strategic measures to restore banks' lending ability, inject liquidity into the economy, protect our companies, protect the real sector, and support small businesses. All of this can be considered part of our national particularities, because our economy has its own problems, despite our big gold and foreign currency reserves and the overall decent preparation work we carried out. But at the same time, as I have already said about this crisis, there cannot be a national solution. If it were possible to overcome the crisis in one country alone it would have been done already, but no one has succeeded. Until our colleagues come up with suitable remedies, the economy will continue to face difficulties. There are various forecasts for next year, including predictions of a worldwide recession, something that has not been seen for 40 or 50 years... We could see a general downturn in the world economy, which had been in a growth period. Now we might see a global recession. The only possible solution is therefore a common response... Without these steps we will not be able to come up with decisions together."
Asked about his relations with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, Medvedev said he hoped "for a partnership and nothing else. In terms of our priorities, when I spoke to President-elect Barack Obama by telephone, he said that he sees relations with the Russian Federation as one of American foreign policy's top priorities. I fully agree with him there. I hope we succeed in building far more effective and reliable relations than was the case before. Much has been achieved over these last years, but at the same time we have lost hold of opportunities to build normal relations with America, and we feel that it is not we who are to blame for this."
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