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Medvedev moves to reassure crisis-hit Russia
AFP - Thursday, December 25
MOSCOW (AFP) - - President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday hoped for better US ties under Barack Obama and reassured Russians over the economic crisis, in a television interview aimed at boosting his presidential stature.
Just weeks after powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had given a marathon end-of-year phone-in with the Russian people, Medvedev's wide-ranging interview appeared a pointed reminder he remains the Russian head of state.
He insisted that he made the decisions during Russia's war with Georgia over South Ossetia in August and said he was comfortable with the tandem with Putin, who was Russian president for eight years until May.
The majority of the interview was devoted to the economy, which remains the most pressing concern of Russians who fear wages will be unpaid and their jobs lost as a result of a drastic slowdown in growth.
"I believe that today there is no task more urgent than overcoming the after-effects of the global financial crisis," Medvedev said in the pre-recorded interview broadcast on Russia's main television channels.
"It's not the simplest situation, but there is no reason for any absolutely dramatic actions or hysteria, there is no basis to suggest that we must undertake any radical measures."
"Complications are of course possible, including some increases in the number of unemployed," he said, adding that currently around 6 percent of active population was unemployed.
But "this is not a very high number, it is lower than in the United States, lower than in other countries."
He said that Russia is hoping for "more effective and reliable" relations with the United States under president elect Barack Obama when he takes office on January 20.
"I would like there to be a relationship of partnership and no less," Medvedev said.
"We've done a lot in recent years, but nonetheless opportunities to develop normal relations with America were missed and this was not, in our view, our fault."
He issued a stark warning to Ukraine over its gas debts, savaged Georgia's president and warned Russia's enemies that the country would respond with force if it was threatened.
"We must be ready to respond to them, in necessary cases with fairly severe, forceful responses, otherwise we cannot ensure the sovereignty of our state."
Medvedev described the day war broke out with Georgia as "one of the most difficult days in my life" and launched an extraordinary personal attack against President Mikheil Saakashvili.
"We suspected that our Georgian colleague had problems in his brains but we did not realise that it would be as serious as that."
On the failure of Ukraine's pro-Western leaders to pay the debts for gas owed to Russia, he commented: "They try and invent things, to take positions. It is sometimes just shameful to look at."
He insisted it was his decision, not Putin's, to send Russian troops deep into Georgia in the conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
"Some decisions have to be taken quickly indeed. Moreover, on such decisions such as a decision with regards to South Ossetia there is no-one to consult, you just have to take a decision and that's it."
Putin's continuation in 2008 of the live call-in session he started as president strengthened speculation that the prime minister remains in control of the country and may even be considering a return to the Kremlin.
But the fact that Medvedev gave the interview will be seen as an indication he wants to carve out a distinctive media profile.
Medvedev said he had "close, friendly relations" with Putin.
"As far as work is concerned -- we work, regularly meet, communicate, discuss some sort of questions, both economic and political. I feel comfortable, he does too, in my opinion. Everything is fine in this respect."
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Enlarge Photo
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R) answers journalists questions during his interview with the country's three main state-controlled television channels, Channel One, Rossia and NTV in Moscow. Medvedev on Wednesday hoped for better US ties under Barack Obama and reassured Russians over the economic crisis, in a television interview aimed at boosting his presidential stature.
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