Putin dismisses calls for Russia's dismissal from G-8

31/01/2006 - 10:38:32
President Vladimir Putin today dismissed calls for Russia’s dismissal from the Group of Eight as a product of a Cold War mentality and said leaders of the G-8 nations support Russia’s presidency.

“I know the mood of the G-8 leaders. No one is against it; all of them support Russia’s active role,” Putin told a wide-ranging Kremlin news conference.

“No one wants the G-8 to turn into an assembly of fat cats,” Putin said.

Putin said there was a growing “imbalance” in the world, with an increasing gap in nations’ living standards.

“As a nation whose economy and social sphere are still in their development, Russia understands the problems of developing nations better than other G-8 members. Russia’s participation in the G-8 is absolutely organic,” Putin said.

“Can anyone imagine solving nuclear security problems without the involvement of Russia, a key nuclear power,” Putin asked. “Let them say what they want. ... A dog barks, but the caravan goes on.”

Some US politicians and NGOs have called for the Russia to be expelled from the G-8, while others have called on other members of the elite club to keep up pressure on human rights issues during Russia’s chairmanship this year.

Under Putin, Russia has seen media freedoms squeezed, voters’ rights to elect regional leaders eliminated and opposition parties shrunken in the face of the overwhelmingly dominant pro-Kremlin party. Weak observation of the rule of law and conflicting signals – with appeals to business executives to sink their money into Russia even as the state carved up the Yukos oil company, the country’s erstwhile No. 1 producer – have kept many investors wary.

On one of the most sensitive rights issues facing Russia, Putin claimed that one of the greatest political achievements of 2005 was bringing Chechnya back into the constitutional fold after more than a decade of conflict. Local government structures put in place in Chechnya marked the republic’s return to the same status as any other region of Russia, he said.

Nonetheless, rights monitors say that abuses, including abductions by government forces as well as rebels, are rampant in Chechnya, and militants and federal forces continue to engage in occasional skirmishes.

On the economy, Putin called the nation’s GDP growth of 6.4% “not bad,” and saluted the 88% growth in the Russian stock market in 2005 as “an absolute record for the world and the country.”

Turning to foreign affairs, Putin called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to engage in peaceful dialogue, and said Russia’s position on the Middle East differed from that of the US and Europe.

Hamas should “refrain from extremist declarations, acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and put its contacts with the international community in order,” Putin said.

He said “Russia has never declared Hamas a terrorist organisation, but it doesn’t mean we support and accept everything Hamas has done and all the statements it has made.”