Transcript: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin Talks To Mike Wallace In An Exclusive Interview

(CBS)  After leaving the KGB, President Putin tells Wallace, he began his political career in St. Petersburg’s local government. Within 10 years, he was president. Putin tells Wallace that it was the political changes in the country that allowed him to ascend so quickly.

TRANSLATOR: Such changes, such metamorphosis is only possible in the revolutionary period of development. At that time, there was in-fighting among the elite. They were battling for power and property, and thus destroyed themselves as the ruling elite. As a result, there was a deficit, a lack of people who were prepared to assume responsibility for the development of the country. President Yeltsin understood that, and my work for him for three years convinced him that I was a good choice. That was how the situation evolved and how it was at the end of the 1999 in the beginning of the year of 2000.

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Wallace and President Putin discuss journalism in Russia.

WALLACE: In order to be a journalist today in Russia, do you have to, in effect, bow the head and bend the knee?

TRANSLATOR: Well, I’ll give to you some figures, and then you will be able to decide whether you have to bend your knee if you want to work in mass media. In Russia there are 3,200 TV and radio companies registered and working in Russia.

WALLACE: 3,200—

TRANSLATOR: Yes. 3,200 TV and radio companies, and only ten percent of them are state companies. In Russia there are 46,000 newspapers and magazines. Even if the authorities at the federal or the regional level wanted to control all this mass media, it would be simply and practically impossible. So the gossip about the control is as exaggerated as the gossip about the death of Mark Twain, as he used to say.

WALLACE: There are varying views in newspapers, radio stations, cable et cetera, but the fact is that there are three major national TV channels, right?

TRANSLATOR: No, it would be incorrect to say so.

WALLACE: OK.

TRANSLATOR: There are more of them. Many more of them. At the national level there are at least five to six broadcasting companies.

WALLACE: I am told that there are three major TV news channels and that they are controlled by you. All three are run by the state. One channel even begins each newscast with, "What did Putin do today? Who did he see?" And so forth and so forth. Correct? Your people run these news channels and the opposition has no news channels, if there is indeed opposition to you.

TRANSLATOR: There is opposition to me. It’s normal. The opposition has an opportunity to openly express its views, and that’s what they are doing.

WALLACE: Where?

TRANSLATOR: Everywhere, including the streets. Have you seen the way we are celebrating the May 1st holiday? The opposition can speak out through the 3,200 radio and TV stations, as well as through the 46,000 newspapers and magazines in Russia.

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Putin says that the challenges faced by the media in Russia aren’t unlike those in the United States.

TRANSLATOR: The relationship between society and the media is characterized by certain tension, because the media is tasked to look into problems in society and show these problems to the society. Let us recollect, for instance, the situation in other countries. For instance, in the United States, there was a controversy involving the coverage of the war in Iraq. Haven't we seen resignations of leading American journalists from national mass media during the Iraqi war due to their positions on Iraq. So -

WALLACE: Wait, wait, wait. What are you saying? What are you saying, Mr. President? Journalists resigning because what?

TRANSLATOR: Don’t you know that some of the journalists were fired because of their views on Iraq or the presidential campaign? The relations between the mass media and the state is not a problem unique to Russia. This is in other countries as well.

If we want to provide for independent mass media, and it is exactly what we want to do, it is necessary to provide an environment for financial independence for the mass media, so that it will be independent from both the state and the large, as we call them, oligarch groupings. And we definitely will be working in order to establish such financial and legislative conditions for the independence of the mass media.

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Wallace returns to the earlier issue about some American journalists who, Putin believes, lost their jobs due to their coverage of the war in Iraq.

WALLACE: Were you talking about Dan Rather?

WALLACE: At CBS News?

TRANSLATOR: Yes, exactly.

WALLACE: He still works for CBS News.

TRANSLATOR: On our TV screens, we saw him resigning. We understand that he had to resign by your bosses at CBS. This is the problem of your democracy, not of ours.

WALLACE: Well, he is not resigned. He continues to work, as a matter of fact, on 60 Minutes.

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Wallace and President Putin discuss democracy in Russia.

WALLACE: Is Russia a democracy?

TRANSLATOR: Russia is a democracy beyond any doubt. It is a state that has gotten rid of the conditions under which it was run for 80 years, when one political force was dominant and had a monopoly on power. Russia has now turned into an absolutely different condition. In our country, democratic institutions are strengthening.

It is beyond doubt that the people have chosen democracy; that we have established the institutions of democracy; and that the philosophy of democracy has a place in people’s minds. We have a multi-party system that is weak so far and it needs strengthening. We have very important elections, democratic elections to the representative body, which is the parliament. And the head of state is democratically elected.

The head of state serves for four years, two times running. We have certain difficulties, but we have an independent, I underscore, an independent judicial system developing. We have not only established the system, but also have provided for the separation of power among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. And this is going on within the development of the democratic institutions of a civil society. Definitely these are, beyond doubt, the signs of a democratic society. So there can be no doubt that Russia is a democratic country and democratic society.