Protests spoil Putin's long press conference
Moscow (AsiaNews) - During his end-of-year press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin was supposed to show off his good health and put to rest rumours about his back pain. He was also supposed to reassert his position as a strong and decisive leader, ready to meet the requirements of his third mandate as president despite criticism in the past year from that part of Russian society he dubbed the "creative class", i.e. the increasingly active Russian middle class. Instead, as Russian political scientists and media noted, Putin came out the loser from a 4 and half hour conference in which he answered 80 questions from more than 1,200 Russian and foreign journalists at Moscow's World Trade Center. The flood of questions, mostly made without prior Kremlin agreement, saw an embarrassed president singled out by journalists, some of whom even dared to use sarcasm at his expense.
In examining his performance, some political scientists pointed out that Putin was evasive and predictable in his answers, which were often far from the reality of a country that is starting to have second thoughts about its leader, no longer referential towards him as was the case in the previous eight press conferences (in 12 years).
For lenta.ru, a Russian language news website, "the spirit of street protest has contaminated the media," so much as that the World Trade Center "press conference saw more questions than answers."
Journalists from every corner of Russia and the world were ready to press directly the president on various issues without fear. Almost no one applauded, except when some of the toughest questions were asked, like that by the journalist of the Los Angeles Times, who wanted to know what really happened to Serghei Magnitsky, a young attorney who died in prison in 2009, a case that has become an international cause célèbre.
For some commentators, the figure of the strongman responsible for the fate of an entire nation has been dinted. Putin, who rejected all charges against him that he had created an authoritarian system over the past 12 years, failed to mention a "single mistake" he might have made during his term in office. He also failed to say anything about the corruption scandal that hit the Defence Ministry, whose minister, Anatoly Serdiukov, a Putin man, was forced to resign, coming to symbolise all that is wrong with the country today.
A Vladivostok journalist, now a darling of the web, rebuked the president for choosing the disgraced minister, asking him how the looted money would be returned to the people.
Before answering, a hesitant Putin said "Sit down Masha," using the journalist's pet name, something deemed disrespectful in formal situations. Unperturbed, the journalist played tit for tat, and said "Thank you Vova," (the pet name for Vladimir). No journalist had ever dared address the current occupant of the Kremlin in such a disdainful manner.
At the end of the conference, many Russian journalists told their foreign colleagues that right now Russian public opinion is less irritated by the fraudulent 2011 election than the controversial 'Anti-Magnitsy' law, which would adoptions of Russian children by American couples, a measure taken in retaliation against a US law that targets Russian government officials involved in human rights violations.
During the press conference, Putin backed the law currently before the Russian parliament (Duma). But for Russian reporters, "This transcends politics. Children should not be touched. This time the authorities have gone beyond every limit."
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24/01/2007
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