Transcript: Vladimir Putin

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

(CBS)  WALLACE: There was a time when the regional governors were elected, correct?

TRANSLATOR: Absolutely right.

WALLACE: Then all of a sudden, Putin says, "No, no, no. I shall appoint the governors." That's democracy? That's democracy? That's not democracy the way I understand it. Now maybe I'm just dead wrong.

TRANSLATOR: Well, you're absolutely wrong. And know you are. For instance, India is called the largest world democracy. But their governors have always been appointed by the central government, and nobody disputes that India is the largest democracy.

WALLACE: But then why did you change from electing your governors to appointing your governors?

TRANSLATOR: Well, if you are patient I will clarify everything for you. I promised you an open and frank talk, and I'm prepared to follow my promise. The principle of appointing regional leaders is not a sign of a lack of democracy. I have not proposed that heads of regions should be appointed. And they're not appointed.

WALLACE: Are they elected?

TRANSLATOR: The president of the country proposes a candidate, and the local parliament votes for this candidate, or votes against this candidate. This is a system of electorates. I would like to underscore that members of a local parliament -- who act as of electors in this context -- are elected through direct and secret votes by the population. I would like to note also that election of a leader through the system of electors is used in the United States, for instance when electing the presidents of the United States. And this is not understood as some un-democratic procedure.

WALLACE: Are you suggesting the president of the United States is not elected by the people of the United States?

TRANSLATOR: In Russia, the president of the Russian Federation is elected through the direct vote of the whole population of the country. In United States you first elect the electors, and then the electors vote for the presidential candidates. So in essence, it is exactly what we are doing with regards to bringing of governors in the Russian Federation to power.

Such a system, when used in the United States, is thought to be democratic. But in Russia, practically the same system on the regional level is questioned by someone as a non-democratic one.

The election of the president of a country through a direct secret vote of the whole population might be even more democratic. But as far I know, nobody's going to change this system in the United States. Moreover, there are some other issues. You faced this problem just four years ago.

WALLACE: And that was?

TRANSLATOR: Four years ago, your presidential election was decided by a court, which means that the electoral system was not efficient, not effective. As a result, the judicial system was brought into the game. So this means there are some contradictions, some disruptions in the system, but we are not going to poke our nose into your democratic system, because it’s up to the American people to say what is good or what is not. So there are problems everywhere.

WALLACE: Let me read you a piece from the Moscow Times back in January 25th. “Putin expresses his shame for Russia.” The dateline is Krakow, Poland. “As world leaders and death camp survivors mourn victims of the Holocaust for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that anti-Semitism had surfaced in Russia, testing an issue that the Kremlin had long failed to confront directly." I know that you are on the record in a very straightforward, honest and decent way about your feeling that the Holocaust was inexcusable, a horror.

TRANSLATOR: Yes.

WALLACE: -- and that your feeling about Jews simply human and straightforward and decent. Why all of a sudden do you acknowledge that there is anti-Semitism in Russia? Why? Is there?

TRANSLATOR: Well, in speaking about my speech in Krakow--

WALLACE: Yes. [Reading . . .] “Even in our country, in our Russia, which did more than any to combat Fascism, for the victory over Fascism, which did most to save the Jewish people, even in our country we sometimes unfortunately see manifestations of anti-Semitism. And I too am ashamed of that.”

TRANSLATOR: That's absolutely true. Well, I said that even in our country, most unfortunately, we see signs of Neo-Nazism, of extremism, of anti-Semitism. It is especially shameful for the country that has done so much to counter Nazism. When I was last in Israel, at the Holocaust Museum – and I was there three times.

WALLACE: Yad Vashem?

TRANSLATOR: Yes. Last time I was there, paying an official visit to Israel, I went to the new museum there. You are simply unable to look at all that is shown there without tears in your eye. The Holocaust was a huge, gigantic tragedy of the Jewish people, and we should not forget how many gypsies suffered, how many Slavic people suffered. How many other people suffered. When in modern Russia we come across Nazism, we definitely are ashamed of that. For us, this is a special evil, because Russia is a multi-ethnic and multi-national country with many religions, and if we let anti-Semitism, neo-Nazism, national intolerance, and chauvinism grow, that is bad for the country.

WALLACE: There is something that needs to be discussed in this context, Mr. President. The oligarchs. How were they able to snap up Russia's wealth -- natural resources, oil, coal, power, industry -- at such bargain prices? How were they able to do that?

TRANSLATOR: First of all, I should say that there was a definite danger that the country would move along the oligarchic way. That’s why it has been the responsibility of the state to rebuild its institutions and make them operate more efficiently. In this way, the country’s natural resources and the market economy can be used to benefit the state and the people.

WALLACE: The fact of the matter is, Mr. President, that Boris Yeltsin made it possible for his friends, the oligarchs, to get a leg up on buying Russia's natural resources, in return for which they helped him in his last election campaign. It was a quid pro quo. Right?

TRANSLATOR: That’s oversimplifying it. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we faced economic problems and the collapse of the social security system. We faced terrorism and practically civil war. Under such conditions, the state, of course, was not able to execute its obligations to the people. The real representative bodies of power were only developing. Police, courts law enforcement entities were discredited because they were considered to be the legacy of the Soviet system.

WALLACE: You know something, you, you are –

TRANSLATOR: I’m going to tell you everything. Just a bit of patience.

WALLACE: I’ll be absolutely patient. The fact of the matter is that they were able to buy up Russia's power, national resources, industry, the oligarchs were.

TRANSLATOR: Yes, they managed to do it. I'm trying to clarify why.

WALLACE: It had nothing to do with Boris Yeltsin?

TRANSLATOR: They took advantage of the weakness of the state institutions for their own benefit.

WALLACE: Who made all of --

TRANSLATOR: Oh, let me finish. Otherwise, we'll have no dialogue.

WALLACE: Right.

TRANSLATOR: They managed to formulate conditions in the state market economy that allowed them to capture those national resources.

WALLACE: At bargain prices?

TRANSLATOR: Absolutely true. How did they manage to do so? They took advantage of the weakness in the state by using their money to buy influence in the legislature, the judicial system, and the mass media.

WALLACE: Corruption?

TRANSLATOR: Yes. That is corruption, but I should tell you that not all of the Russian market economy consists of oligarchs.

WALLACE: No, of course not.

Read Part II of Mike Wallace's interview with Vladimir Putin.