Vladimir Putin met with
candidates who ran in the presidential election.
March 19, 2018
16:20
The Kremlin, Moscow
8 of 11
Meeting
with candidates for post of Russian Federation President.
President of Russia
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
The election campaign is
over, and I wanted to meet with you. I hope that today we
will talk, first of all, about the campaign, and most
importantly, about what needs to be done to ensure that all
the positive elements (and there were a lot of them during
the election campaign) are taken into account in the future
practical work of the executive and legislative branches
of government.
Of course,
an election campaign is always a special period, it is associated
with special emotions, and often they are quite overwhelming. It happens
almost everywhere, and we are no exception here. The main thing is
that we have the opportunity to join efforts in the future
for constructive work for the benefit of the country.
I met today with
the heads of the central headquarters, the co-chairs
of my campaign, and I want to repeat once again,
the main emphasis in the future work of the executive
branch will be on solving the country’s domestic problems. First
of all, this means ensuring economic growth rates, making innovation part
of the character of our economy, resolving specific issues
in healthcare, education and science as well as ensuring
the prosperity of our people on the basis of these
elements.
This is the final goal
of any government in Russia; it is nothing original, and,
moreover – by the way, almost all of you noted this
in your campaigns – we have the problem of a gap
between those who earn a lot, have large incomes and those who live
humbly, to put it mildly. The state must close this gap and,
as I have said many times, reduce the number of people
living below the poverty line, especially those with jobs. The kind
of situation where someone works but receives contemptible pay should not
be allowed in Russia.
At a meeting
with candidates for post of Russian Federation President.
Of course, we must
and will pay the necessary attention to further bolstering
the country’s defence capability. But let me tell you outright that no one
is going to start some arms race. On the contrary, we are going
to pursue constructive relations with all countries
of the world. We will aim for constructive dialogue, without
question, and encourage this among our partners.
But, of course, not
everything depends on us. There must be interest on both sides, like
in love, or there will be no love. However, we, on our side,
will do everything possible to resolve all disputes with our partners
through political and diplomatic means. In addition to this,
of course, our position has always been and will always be that we
will fight to uphold our national interests. Our operating assumption is
that we will do all this work with our partners on a mutually
acceptable basis, showing respect for each other and for our
national interests.
Regarding military
expenditures. There are planned reductions in defence spending both this
year and next year. This will not bring about any problems in our
defence capability because the major expenditures on creating
cutting-edge weapon systems were made in previous years. We have
to bring some matters to their logical conclusion, and continue
with current designs, which I have not yet spoken about. We have run all
the calculations. The money we are going to put to these
ends will suffice, there will be no increases, and we will not allow
a new arms race. We have everything, in this sense we are securely
provided for. Yet we will pursue our aims steadily and according
to plan.
At a meeting
with candidates for post of Russian Federation President.
This is what I would like
to focus on at the end of my monologue.
I spoke about it at the rally yesterday,
if you had time to watch and if you took notice. I think it is
crucial for us to unite the efforts of all political
parties, civic organisations, the public in the broadest sense
of the word, to unite our efforts around a positive agenda,
to solve the tasks the country is facing,
and to overcome the challenges Russia is up against. There may
be no simple solutions; they may require additional explanation.
I strongly hope that we
will always be guided by the long-term interests of Russia and the Russian
people, with group or party preferences coming second.
I understand that this is
not easy, there is always a temptation to exploit certain decisions
made by the government that require additional public explanation.
But I urge you to engage in an open and honest
dialogue that advances long-term national interests.
This is what I wanted
to begin with. Let us discuss our ideas about what we need to do
together to solve the problems facing the country.
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