Does Putin's German Interview Mark Turn to West?

Abstract

APTEKAR: INTERVIEW WITH GERMAN NEWSPAPER BILD IS FULL OF SELF-JUSTIFICATION, BUT SOME SAY THAT PUTIN IS ATTEMPTING TO MAKE A PEACEFUL GESTURE TOWARD THE WEST IN HOPES OF EASING SANCTIONS ... PEACEFUL PUTIN. (By Pavel Aptekar. Vedomosti, Jan. 12, 2016, p. 1. Complete text:) [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is again sending signals to the West about his desire for peace. [In view,] the West should acknowledge that it has pursued an unjust policy against Russia, and should allow Russia keep on behaving the way it is (or at least to stop bringing up past grievances). And [the West should] lift the sanctions [introduced in 2014 - Trans.] - which, of course, were mistake, although they have not affected the Russian economy too much. Putin is proposing to start from scratch, as it were - to forget recent disagreements. After all, everyone is to blame, and Russia less so than others. ... president's interview with the German newspaper Bild (published [sic; recorded] on Jan. 5) was the sixth in the current fall-winter media season. This level of media activity cannot be regarded as out of the ordinary for Putin: From September 2014 to February 2015, he also did six interviews with Russian and foreign journalists. However, Putin has changed target audiences: His signals are being directed more and more toward the foreign public, predominantly Western. Even his traditional Message to the Federal Assembly and annual press conference [see, respectively, Current Digest, Vol.67, No.49, pp.3-8, and No.51-52, pp.6-8] touched more on foreign policy than previous ones: the situation in Syria, the conflict with Turkey, and relations with the West. In addition, the film The World Order, based on a series of interviews with the Russian president, aired on the Rossia 1 channel in December. ... In the Bild interview, Putin offers historical validation for annexing the Crimea [see Current Digest, Vol.66, No.12, pp.3-11] and explains what he considers injustices committed by the West against Russia in recent decades. He backs up his claims with hitherto unknown (we wonder why?) archival documents (he refers to transcript of conversation between [former] head of the CPSU Central Committee's international relations department Valentin Falin and West German politician Egon Bahr in 1990). ... Russian president tries to convince the German journalists it is Kiev that is failing to comply with the Minsk agreements [for ceasefire in the Donetsk Basin; see Current Digest, Vol.66, No.37, pp.3-6 and Vol.67, No.7, pp.3-7- Trans.], not Moscow. Putin claims that the Western sanctions imposed against Russia after the events in the Crimea and the Donetsk Basin are unjust, but they have done little harm to our economy. What has hurt us more is the drop in oil prices - but this is useful, too, because it is making us healthier. ... Those in the top echelons of power have probably realized that the economic situation that has resulted from the ongoing decrease in oil prices is more dire than it had seemed. [Moscow] failed to find support in Asia. Kremlin is trying to negotiate with the West about easing sanctions and establishing principles of cooperation before the economic and social situation in the country becomes critical, says political analyst Nikolai Petrov. Without directly acknowledging his own mistakes (which would contradict his image as bad boy), Putin is offering an olive branch to Western politicians. He is hinting that Russia's appetite is much smaller than that of the USSR under Stalin or Brezhnev, so new Yalta would suit everyone. Perhaps the Kremlin does not understand that foreign policy in the West has become more public and the role of secret diplomacy has diminished, comments political analyst Aleksei Makarkin. ... West will not engage in such deals to divvy up the world, of course. But it will keep talking to Putin. ... GERMAN NEWS COMMENTATORS CRITICAL OF PUTIN'S WORLDVIEW, DISTRUST OF AMERICA; RUSSIAN EXPERTS DISAGREE ON CHOICE OF PUBLICATION: DOES TABLOID REDUCE PUTIN'S CREDIBILITY OR EXPAND AUDIENCE? ... PUTIN DID NOT CONVINCE GERMANS. (By Nina Ilyina. Vedomosti, Jan. 13, 2016, p. 2. Condensed text:) The interview with the Russian president published in the German daily newspaper Bild in two installments (Monday and Tuesday [Jan. 11 12]) sparked great interest among leading German media outlets. But their reaction was mostly cool, if not critical. ... Putin's world is simple and clear: He is right; others are wrong. Therefore, criticism of his policies cannot be justified; it must be the machinations of dark forces.*** This is also how Putin accounts for why he comes off so badly in practically all quality German writes political commentator Reinhard Veser in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing words about a very strong foreign influence on the German media, primarily from the other side of the Atlantic.