Putin: Russia doesn't want 'kind of democracy' US has in Iraq

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday July 15, 2006

At a joint press conference held in Russia on Saturday with President Bush, President Putin joked that his country didn't want to have the same kind of democracy that the United States has in Iraq.

A reporter had asked President Bush how his conversation with Putin on "concerns about Russian democracy" had gone.

"I have shared with him my desires for our country, and he shared with me his desires for his," said Bush. "And I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing."

"We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly," Putin joked.

"Just wait," Bush responded.

(Video of the exchange can be seen at Think Progress)

Excerpts from Saturday's joint press conference:

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PRESIDENT PUTIN: I can see that members of the Russian and U.S. press have colluded and are tormenting us with the same kind of questions. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: An old colluder, but a colluder.

....

Q President Bush, you said that you planned to raise, in a respectful way, your concerns about Russian democracy with President Putin. How did that conversation go? And I know you've already talked a lot about the U.S.-Russian relationship, but I'm wondering if both of you could elaborate on that, and how the differences of opinion over the democracy are affecting the relationship.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I thought the discussion was a good discussion. It's not the first time that Vladimir and I discussed our governing philosophies. I have shared with him my desires for our country, and he shared with me his desires for his. And I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing.

I fully understand, however, that there will be a Russian-style democracy. I don't expect Russia to look like the United States. As Vladimir pointedly reminded me last night, we have a different history, different traditions. And I will let him describe to you his way forward, but he shared with me some very interesting thoughts that I think would surprise some of our citizens.

Now that I've lured you into the deal here, you know -- like, for example, how do you promote land reform. So we discussed land reform. You know, one of the interesting decisions a government has to make, particularly this government would have to make, is how do you encourage private ownership of land further than that which has already happened.

Anyway, he shared some thoughts with me. Sorry to put -- lay the trap out there for you -- but it was a good discussion. He's a strong man. Look, he's willing to listen, but he also explains to me, he doesn't want anybody telling him how to run his government. He was elected. And so it was a cordial relationship. But he can speak for himself.

PRESIDENT PUTIN: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: Just wait.

PRESIDENT PUTIN: But it is true that we have discussed this issue at length, on the initiative of the President of the United States, and on my own initiative, as well. It is true that we assume that nobody knows better than us how we can strengthen our own nation. But we know for sure that we cannot strengthen our nation without developing democratic institutions, and this is the path that we will certainly take. But certainly, we will do this by ourselves.

At the same time, as far as the forum and context in which we discussed this last night and earlier today, we believe that this is not only acceptable to us to have such discussions with our partners, but I personally believe that this is quite useful, as well, because when we do this in a non-biased manner, in a friendly manner, in an objective manner, when we recognize that the existence of problems in this part of the world, when we recognize that problems with democracy are universal in their nature -- these are not specifically Russian problems, the problems of building democracy are universal -- and when we honestly and openly discuss this, as was the case last night, as was the case earlier today, this will always be useful.

Thank you for your attention. Have a nice day.