Browse content similar to Boris Titov - Party of Growth, Russia. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
55% of the ballot. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:02 | |
It's just gone half past
four in the morning. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Now on BBC News it's
time for HARDtalk. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:13 | |
Welcome to HARDtalk I Stephen
Sackur. Seven candidates are | 0:00:13 | 0:00:17 | |
challenging Vladimir Putin in this
month's Russian presidential | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
election. Not one of them has a hope
of victory. To all intents and | 0:00:21 | 0:00:25 | |
purposes, this is a show election to
confirm the popularity and power of | 0:00:25 | 0:00:31 | |
Vladimir Putin. But is there a
danger for Russia in this | 0:00:31 | 0:00:37 | |
urbanisation of politics? My guest
is one of the seven hatless are that | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
candidates. Boris Titov, a Vladimir
Putin appointee for business. Does | 0:00:41 | 0:00:47 | |
Russia need reform rather than
authoritarianism? Party of | 0:00:47 | 0:01:20 | |
-- Boris Titov in Moscow, welcome to
HARDtalk. . You are going to be in | 0:01:23 | 0:01:29 | |
the election that comes ahead in
just a few days from now. To the | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
outside world, it looks at the
charade, a mockery of a democratic | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
process. Is that the way it feels to
you? No, it is a democratic process | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
because we are all by our own world
participating in it. But of course | 0:01:42 | 0:01:47 | |
the popularity of Vladimir Putin is
very high, and that is why we, of | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
course, understand that the chances
are very low. Our chances are very | 0:01:51 | 0:01:55 | |
low. You are not really a serious
candidate, are you? Because during | 0:01:55 | 0:01:59 | |
the course of the campaign, you have
said that as hang on... I am a | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
serious man. I am a businessman. By
the way a British businessman. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:09 | |
Because I started my career and 89
in London. Yes, well... Two 1989. In | 0:02:09 | 0:02:17 | |
99. You said ombudsman. Not a
serious man. I don't think is | 0:02:17 | 0:02:23 | |
serious man could handle this job.
It is a serious job. You said I am | 0:02:23 | 0:02:31 | |
that it hidden's ombudsman. The fact
is yes. But, I mean, in reality, I | 0:02:31 | 0:02:36 | |
am protecting the rights of
businessman from the state of | 0:02:36 | 0:02:41 | |
Russia. Because in very many cases,
are - they're using administrative | 0:02:41 | 0:02:50 | |
law, criminal law, corruption. So I
am protecting our businessmen from | 0:02:50 | 0:02:56 | |
the Russian state. Boris Titov, I
would want to get to your job. But | 0:02:56 | 0:03:04 | |
even want to offend you. I didn't
want to say you were a serious man, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
what wanted to say you were not a
serious candidate. The Rizzo said | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
that is because you have publicly
said, you know, but it didn't is the | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
toughest politician of our day. --
Lammy Purdon is the toughest | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
politician Barrett day. -- Vladimir
Putin. Of course he has a great | 0:03:18 | 0:03:32 | |
strength against us. But ever
understand is why we are | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
participating in these elections.
Us, it is very important, this move. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
We were thinking as a group of
businessman in our union of non- oil | 0:03:39 | 0:03:50 | |
business of Russia, who are
supporting me. And we were thinking | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
prolonged time to go for the
selection or not, but we decided to | 0:03:54 | 0:03:59 | |
do it. Why? Because we need to
promote our ideas. The idea that we | 0:03:59 | 0:04:05 | |
have is a strategy for Russia. We
are the best macroeconomic and | 0:04:05 | 0:04:13 | |
scientists in Russia and developed a
programme and this is a very | 0:04:13 | 0:04:20 | |
profound programme. A real strategy.
We prepared it for two years. The | 0:04:20 | 0:04:25 | |
main idea is that we have to change
the economy of Russia. We have to go | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
from today's oil economy, resource
economy, to a real market economy. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:36 | |
We had to promote small and medium
businesses. We have two promote | 0:04:36 | 0:04:42 | |
industrial, technological
businesses. We have two make the | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
country know about that. Yes, but
the point... Let me stop you, let me | 0:04:46 | 0:04:51 | |
stop you for a second. You say you
are full of important economic lives | 0:04:51 | 0:04:56 | |
is due to make I'm sorry. No, don't
worry. You tell about these ideas of | 0:04:56 | 0:05:02 | |
modernising Russia, and you say that
you, I can make this point, you note | 0:05:02 | 0:05:09 | |
the election is a stride. But it
Purdon has not released a manifesto. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
-- Vladimir Putin. It is not regard
you are serious. The in the Kremlin | 0:05:14 | 0:05:21 | |
wanted for you and others... Let me
finish my point. You were to stand | 0:05:21 | 0:05:29 | |
as a figleaf to give the impression
that they were some sort of choice. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:34 | |
I am sorry. The Kremlin did not want
me to stand. The only question that | 0:05:34 | 0:05:41 | |
I asked the Kremlin, because I am
working in the Kremlin | 0:05:41 | 0:05:48 | |
administration, so the only thing
which I asked was it would be a | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
conflict of interest. Allow to leave
my day to day job to run for the | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
election? They said, OK, we thought
it was not a conflict of interest, | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
science still giving the job and
going for a elections. Otherwise, I | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
would have to decide, because it is
a big chance that I would have left | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
the job to run for the elections.
Alexei Navalny is by far the most | 0:06:09 | 0:06:15 | |
prominent opposition voice in Russia
today. He wanted to run in the | 0:06:15 | 0:06:20 | |
election. He was barred from running
on the basis of a conviction on | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
jumped up charges which were
condemned by the European Court of | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
Human Rights has been completely
unacceptable, and after that, Alessi | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
Davante said to all Russians,
please, do not vote. -- Alexei | 0:06:33 | 0:06:38 | |
Navalny. He said that it meant
fixing Vladimir Putin's problem by | 0:06:38 | 0:06:44 | |
helping in disguise his appointment
by making it look like serving like | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
a proper election. Why did you not
heed his words? Because if beverage | 0:06:47 | 0:06:53 | |
will go for the polls, but it Purdon
will win with 100%. Those who are | 0:06:53 | 0:07:04 | |
not agreeing with the economic,
don't agree with the economical, if | 0:07:04 | 0:07:12 | |
they will not go, the country and
Vladimir Putin will think that | 0:07:12 | 0:07:17 | |
everyone supports him. Even 10% of
people, 15%, 20%, they will come and | 0:07:17 | 0:07:25 | |
they will say we are voting for
other people as candidates. So we | 0:07:25 | 0:07:30 | |
will see the picture, the social
picture in Russia, the picture of | 0:07:30 | 0:07:35 | |
opinions in Russia. So Alexi Diwali,
of course, we can talk about his | 0:07:35 | 0:07:40 | |
legal situation. Only about 1.5 or
2% of people support him. With | 0:07:40 | 0:07:53 | |
respect, your current poll standing
is less than 1%, so... I won't | 0:07:53 | 0:08:01 | |
compete with Alexei Navalny. We'll
see final stand. At least in one | 0:08:01 | 0:08:10 | |
week, you will see our result. Of
course we are not professional | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
politicians. We are professional
economists. But anyway, Alexei | 0:08:13 | 0:08:18 | |
Navalny asked his supporters, and he
had to make them come and vote for | 0:08:18 | 0:08:27 | |
him or if you can't vote because he
was legally not in the list, but | 0:08:27 | 0:08:34 | |
there were other possibilities to do
that. So I think that we had to have | 0:08:34 | 0:08:40 | |
more competition at every social
group supporting any candidate and | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
having the right to have very
candidate and to come and vote. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
Boris Titov, we will talk economy,
because that is a real interest. But | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
before we do that, we need to talk
about what Vladimir Putin seems to | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
regard as the most important message
in the election. And that is his | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
message on foreign policy. A
bellicose, assertive, big message to | 0:08:59 | 0:09:04 | |
the Russian people about restoring
Russian pride and taking on Russia's | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
enemies wherever they may be. Do you
support that element of let me | 0:09:08 | 0:09:14 | |
Purdon's message? That is not the
message he gives to the Russian | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
people. Mostly the message is for
the West. And this message could be | 0:09:17 | 0:09:25 | |
read as you don't want to talk to us
when we are weak. We think that you | 0:09:25 | 0:09:30 | |
will talk with us when we will be
strong. I think the perception of | 0:09:30 | 0:09:36 | |
the situation in the world is
different, between the Western | 0:09:36 | 0:09:41 | |
Vladimir Putin. He thinks the West
made many mistakes against Russia. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
-- between the West and that it had.
I partly agree with that. Because in | 0:09:45 | 0:09:51 | |
the 90s, the West did not support
them in the Democrat presses. We | 0:09:51 | 0:09:59 | |
thought there would be huge
educational programmes. Thousands of | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
Russians will go to the West to
learn about democracy and the market | 0:10:02 | 0:10:09 | |
economy seat done. Of course,
Vladimir Putin considers as not | 0:10:09 | 0:10:20 | |
understanding of the Russian
interest in the world. -- on the | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
market economy. Sorry to interrupt.
I don't mean to be rude. There is a | 0:10:23 | 0:10:31 | |
time delay on the line and is the
ant is too long, we will not get | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
through all of the important issues
that we need to get through. On this | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
point, I am mindful that you are an
opposition candidate tried to remove | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin. But
your message to the outside world is | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
what? That you support his invasion
and annexation of Crimea? That you | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
support Russian trips in eastern
Ukraine? That you support the | 0:10:50 | 0:10:56 | |
intervention... -- Russian troops.
Two I support some things and not | 0:10:56 | 0:11:01 | |
others. -- I support something.
Crimea was never Ukrainian. The | 0:11:01 | 0:11:11 | |
mistake was made by Boris Yeltsin
when they didn't even consider the | 0:11:11 | 0:11:16 | |
issue of Crimea when they signed the
agreements. Because nobody even | 0:11:16 | 0:11:23 | |
thought that Crimea is Ukrainian at
that time. And he just let it go | 0:11:23 | 0:11:28 | |
without any - without even putting -
because he was so fast and hard to | 0:11:28 | 0:11:33 | |
move these agreements forwards
because he wanted to be the | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
president of Russia. He was the
president of Russia, but it was | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
Gorbachev who was the president of
the soviet union. In order to push | 0:11:41 | 0:11:46 | |
through the agreements and just
destroy the soviet union. I want | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
your view on selling top level in
the United Kingdom today. And that | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
is the very mysterious illness, the
critical honours, a rational double | 0:11:53 | 0:12:07 | |
agent in hospital fibrous life
alongside his daughter. Sergei | 0:12:07 | 0:12:14 | |
Skripal was seen to be working for
the UK, went to Russia, then was | 0:12:14 | 0:12:22 | |
sent to the UK any spy swap. That
was not a question, that was a | 0:12:22 | 0:12:27 | |
position. Do you think Russia's
response will for what has happened | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
to Sergei Skripal? And have nothing
to do without, and I can say that | 0:12:30 | 0:12:35 | |
you do not speculate on that. It you
start speculating, even if they did | 0:12:35 | 0:12:42 | |
not give his declination what
happened. There was no investigation | 0:12:42 | 0:12:49 | |
about that. Why we should put
everything on the hard side? Why | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
should we think about the enemy
psychology from the first thing, | 0:12:53 | 0:12:58 | |
from the first thing? Will never
agree on anything. We will never | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
agree on anything. We might want to
think about Vladimir Putin's | 0:13:01 | 0:13:06 | |
responsibilities, because you might
think that in 2010... You have | 0:13:06 | 0:13:12 | |
already jetted about that. Not at
all. Had he respond to this? If you | 0:13:12 | 0:13:17 | |
don't mind, let me ask the
questions. Back in 2010, at the time | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
of the spy swap, Vladimir Putin said
traders were kicked the bucket. They | 0:13:21 | 0:13:27 | |
have betrayed their friends for 30
pieces of silver and they will choke | 0:13:27 | 0:13:33 | |
on them. Of course, many people are
wondering whether Vladimir Putin... | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
I haven't heard this expression, but
I cannot comment on that. I never | 0:13:36 | 0:13:42 | |
had anything to do with spy
investigations or spy works. So let | 0:13:42 | 0:13:49 | |
me free-to be free out of these
questions. I want to talk about the | 0:13:49 | 0:13:54 | |
economical side. What I will you if
I may, the world is very small. | 0:13:54 | 0:14:04 | |
Before we talked and signed the
agreements with you, before that, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:14 | |
Churchill and Stalin signed the
agreement and further agreements | 0:14:14 | 0:14:20 | |
post-war. For together against their
enemies. Now we need to find ways to | 0:14:20 | 0:14:29 | |
meet each other. I understand your
point, Boris Titov, but it is not | 0:14:29 | 0:14:33 | |
working away, right now, because of
Russia's actions in Ukraine and | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
elsewhere. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:42 | |
When Hughes start your question...
What is the right word in English? | 0:14:42 | 0:14:49 | |
With accusations and not trying to
find | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
With accusations and not trying to
find the right way to find each | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
other. Boris Titov, UKIP trying to
tell myself you're an opponent of | 0:14:53 | 0:15:04 | |
Putin? I am an opponent of Putin but
IME favour of Russia. When I see | 0:15:04 | 0:15:15 | |
what happened, I have been living in
London for many years. I'd children | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
have British passports and what I
see now happening... Did not know | 0:15:18 | 0:15:24 | |
what to call it, it is a circus or
whatever, that people just do not | 0:15:24 | 0:15:29 | |
talk to each other, this is complete
nonsense. You want reform, you want | 0:15:29 | 0:15:36 | |
to open up the Russian economy,
modernise it and massive | 0:15:36 | 0:15:41 | |
international investment in Russia
but do you not see it with the | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
attitude of Vladimir Putin right
now, you are not going to get any of | 0:15:44 | 0:15:49 | |
that. You are going to get
sanctions, more international | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
isolation and less investment...
Maybe you think like that but with | 0:15:52 | 0:15:58 | |
more free economy in Russia, there
will be investment and foreign | 0:15:58 | 0:16:03 | |
investment. The politics are
politics but we know, we're | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
practical people, businessmen, we
know that, to the Soviet Union, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:13 | |
there was foreign investment from
written, they were coming because, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:19 | |
if there was a trust even at that
time, we can talk, and when we talk | 0:16:19 | 0:16:26 | |
figures, investments, mutual
projects... In fact, it is going the | 0:16:26 | 0:16:34 | |
other way. It is not going the other
way. ExxonMobil just pulled out of a | 0:16:34 | 0:16:42 | |
major joint venture because of the
sanctions. Both the UN and US are | 0:16:42 | 0:16:49 | |
talking about strengthening
sanctions. I just had lunch in | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
McDonald's. We have all the main
brands staying in Russia. I hope you | 0:16:53 | 0:16:59 | |
enjoyed your burger but the fact
that... I like... And the fact is | 0:16:59 | 0:17:06 | |
quite simple, you can eat as many
cheeseburgers as you like but | 0:17:06 | 0:17:12 | |
foreign direct investment in Russia
has plummeted in recent years and | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
you are a manner that is supposed to
be advocating... It is true. It is | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
true. We have a big potential in our
possible economical development. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:27 | |
Russia is a huge possibility of
growth. We are saying we cannot do | 0:17:27 | 0:17:34 | |
it by ourselves. We have quite a
strong Russian business community. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:39 | |
We have technologies. A lot of
experts are still working in Russia. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:44 | |
You are the Ombudsman there, would
you agree with me that for example | 0:17:44 | 0:17:56 | |
the use of the law and the courts by
big companies to intimidate smaller | 0:17:56 | 0:18:02 | |
companies, to manipulate... That's
not right. The biggest problem now | 0:18:02 | 0:18:07 | |
in Russia is corruption. And threats
from the State to businessmen. Where | 0:18:07 | 0:18:17 | |
criminal law is used against
companies. We have to protect the | 0:18:17 | 0:18:22 | |
rights, we have to take people out
of jails because, according to the | 0:18:22 | 0:18:27 | |
Russian laws, businessmen before the
court could not be jailed. It is a | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
recent law. But they are still
jailed. I have just been in London | 0:18:31 | 0:18:36 | |
and we had the list of Russian
businessmen who have escaped from | 0:18:36 | 0:18:42 | |
Russia and they are living in
London, Greece, Spain and different | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
countries... Boris Titov at this is
really important. And you are being | 0:18:46 | 0:18:56 | |
very frank about the degree of
corruption in your country and that | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
matters because you are the
Ombudsman the business and it is | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
important to businessmen to believe
in their ability to safeguard their | 0:19:03 | 0:19:08 | |
interests if corruption is corroding
their system. A simple question, the | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
youth think Vladimir Putin and his
cronies and France, many from Saint | 0:19:11 | 0:19:17 | |
Petersburg, are crooked? I can say I
do not know this. I can say to you, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:24 | |
I talk to Vladimir Putin about our
strategy of growth. This is our | 0:19:24 | 0:19:32 | |
programme. And what he did is he
tried to move this way for more | 0:19:32 | 0:19:38 | |
competition... I am asking you
whether you believe Vladimir Putin | 0:19:38 | 0:19:43 | |
is corrupt? I have never seen any
deals with Putin on corruption. I | 0:19:43 | 0:19:50 | |
have never seen it anywhere. Really?
Really! Let me read to you the | 0:19:50 | 0:19:59 | |
latest Helsinki commission report,
highly respected, on Russian. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:06 | |
Endemic corruption is a defining
characteristic of the Putin regime | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
while the President is the prime
beneficiary, cronies maintain a | 0:20:09 | 0:20:16 | |
system of corruption. These low
support is necessary to ensure the | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
status quo and they often pursue the
governments illicit interests. That | 0:20:19 | 0:20:25 | |
is the Helsinki commission report
putting the blame on Putin himself. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:32 | |
Helsinki... I do not know about
Helsinki but they have never seen | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
anybody from Putin's Administration
asking for a bribe, at least in | 0:20:35 | 0:20:45 | |
business. I have never seen, I
cannot comment on that. You're | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
trying to beat Putin in this
election, wouldn't it be worth your | 0:20:50 | 0:20:59 | |
way at these allegations? I am
saying we have to work and go | 0:20:59 | 0:21:06 | |
forward. If we will claim that
everything is bad and this, this, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:13 | |
and this bash by the way not very
proved. Alexei Navalny's | 0:21:13 | 0:21:21 | |
accusations... At least I have not
seen the proved by coming back to | 0:21:21 | 0:21:26 | |
the main idea. We need to go
forward. We understand the problems | 0:21:26 | 0:21:32 | |
we have in Russia. Corruption. The
main corruption is a huge garden... | 0:21:32 | 0:21:45 | |
I did not know how to say it in
English... A huge sector of Russian | 0:21:45 | 0:21:53 | |
society which we call it the Russian
middle-class, which are all | 0:21:53 | 0:21:59 | |
bureaucrats, you know, the people
from the government and this | 0:21:59 | 0:22:04 | |
practically middle-class pushes
Russian politics forward. They are | 0:22:04 | 0:22:12 | |
interesting all the politics in
Russia. -- influencing. They do not | 0:22:12 | 0:22:20 | |
want peace to go forward because
they relate on that budget salary, | 0:22:20 | 0:22:24 | |
corruption and we see it every day.
When businessmen are put in jail, | 0:22:24 | 0:22:29 | |
the next day comes somebody who
says, you want to sit in jail? You | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
give some payment to this company
and you will be released. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:38 | |
Practically 60% of businessmen who
went in jail... We are almost out of | 0:22:38 | 0:22:44 | |
time... The main problem of Russia
is this corruption. You have spoken | 0:22:44 | 0:22:49 | |
frankly about corruption in Russia.
In a few days there will be an | 0:22:49 | 0:22:56 | |
election and I hate to say this but
you are not going to win, Vladimir | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
Putin is going to win. How damaging
will 64 years of let me Putin be? | 0:23:00 | 0:23:07 | |
This election is not about electing
a president. Speaking honestly. Yes, | 0:23:07 | 0:23:14 | |
he has a big advantage against all
of us but this election is about how | 0:23:14 | 0:23:19 | |
Russia will be after the elections.
And who will influence on the | 0:23:19 | 0:23:25 | |
economy to go to the site of market
competition and for the | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
versification of the economy. -- de
versification. The other way is back | 0:23:29 | 0:23:37 | |
the 90s, backed to the Soviet Union,
I'm afraid to say. This is a very | 0:23:37 | 0:23:44 | |
possible alternative so we are
fighting for that. That we do not | 0:23:44 | 0:23:50 |