President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: I am ready. If you are ready, let's start working.
Tsvetana Krasteva: Ok.
Dmitry Anatolyevich, the Year of Bulgaria is to be launched in Russia on the 4th of February. Tell me, please, what opportunities for the development of Russian-Bulgarian relations will be opening up, in your opinion, in such an unusual format as the Year of Bulgaria?
Dmitry Medvedev: First of all, we are very glad that such an event will take place. We are looking forward to the visit of Georgi Pyrvanov, President of Bulgaria, who is to launch the Year, and to the activities scheduled in the framework of the Year.
I think that despite certain conventionality of the notion ”the Year of Bulgaria in Russia“, as our relations span decades and centuries, rather than years, it is, nevertheless, a very good way to demonstrate the entire depth of our ties, all our distinctions in various fields where we maintain relations, issues of our cultural cooperation and trade and economic interaction, humanitarian issues and, indeed, everything that makes up today the broad spectrum of relations that exist between Bulgaria and Russia.
As regards activities related to Year, I see the advantage of such events in that they provide an opportunity to bring in good artistic groups which are welcome in Russia and make it possible for people who are interested in the Bulgarian creative art and in the history of our relations, who love Bulgaria to attend the activities, to go to the concerts, to visit exhibitions and, in general, acquire new knowledge of modern Bulgaria. It is important because in spite of the fact that a significant part of our people like to go to Bulgaria on holidays and have a good knowledge of its culture and traditions, the country is in the process of development, it is a modern, growing country. And, of course, there emerge new artistic groups, as well as new names. This is the most important thing, I think. I mean, the most important thing related to interpersonal relations, to relations between our peoples.
But, of course, these events also provide an opportunity to talk and, indeed, to actively address issues related to the development of all economic ties that exist between our countries. I refer, first of all, to the implementation of major projects, such as the South Stream and the Burgas–Alexandroupolis Oil Pipeline, as well as other important energy projects. We also have works in process in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry and in the transport sector.
And when such events, such ”Years“ happen, they always give a certain, quite notable impetus to these processes. Even the bureaucratic machinery starts to function better than it does otherwise. I tell you that with utmost sincerity as I personally used to head organizing committees responsible for holding Years of Friendship with a number of other states. And I am confident that the Year of Bulgaria in the Russian Federation will not be an exception in this sense. More than that, I hope it will be a good confirmation of that rule.
Tsvetana Krasteva: By coincidence, as you know, a gas crisis broke out on the eve of the Year of Bulgaria in Russia. During this crisis, people in Bulgaria, a country that regularly pays for the Russian gas, were freezing, while the country itself lost millions of dollars. Could you tell us how Russia is going to restore its credibility as a politically and economically stable partner and supplier of energy? What assurances of non-recurrence of such a crisis could you give us as the President of Russia?
Dmitry Medvedev: You know, I would say the following. Of course, these are very unfortunate events, giving no reasons for joy either to the Russian Federation as a European supplier of energy or to the Russian companies that were involved in this trade. They have certainly had dire consequences for a number of gas-consuming states, including Bulgaria. This is deplorable, and we certainly need to jointly consider the ways of countering such threats in the future.
Speaking of assurances, I will not give you any of them as the Russian President. Those who actually provoked this crisis must give these assurances. As I have said during my talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Mr. Stanishev and other colleagues, the best assurance would be the holding of international consultations with a view to avoiding such crises. I would not want our Bulgarian friends to depend on the political situation in a transit state anymore.
You know, I have a legal background and I am fully aware of the fact that both states, the supplier and the transit state, or their national companies, should be held responsible for, say, a failure to deliver goods. Not the states themselves, as states do not supply energy. However, the party whose actions actually led to non-compliance with the agreement should bear the final legal responsibility. For this reason, I believe that holding wide-ranging consultations and drafting new agreements on this subject will serve everybody’s interests (including those of European countries as energy consumers and those of the Russian Federation as a dependable supplier), as the previous agreements, unfortunately, proved to be ineffective. The problems that arise cannot be dealt with by using the Energy Charter.
The above is the first priority for action. The second priority, which I consider a highly relevant one and which perfectly fits into the framework of our friendly relations with Bulgaria, is the construction of new energy routes as quickly as possible. I am talking about both the South Stream and the Nord Stream projects, as our efforts aimed at diversifying supplies will greatly reduce Europe’s dependence on the whims of any country’s political regime. We have to face the reality. We will not be able to create a perfect model, but we must strive to establish a reliable international legal monitoring regime. It seems to me that certain steps in this direction have already been made. In this regard, I am quite happy with both the approach taken by the European Union, which helped to resolve this crisis, and that taken by our partners.
Tsvetana Krasteva: As you know, Bulgaria concluded its gas agreements with Russia, with Gazprom. Is Russia prepared to remove any agents from the gas agreement, as proposed to you by the Bulgarian Prime Minister, and to revise the terms of this agreement whatsoever? Do you consider it as an option, and, in general, do you have your own ideas as regards the streamlining of gas-related cooperation?
Dmitry Medvedev: Optimization of cooperation is, naturally, a good theme which is omnipresent. And we are sure to discuss these issues when we meet with the President.
As to agents, as far as the Russian side is concerned, we do not need any. Agents were once imposed on us in Ukraine. Russia is prepared to trade directly on behalf of the principal gas supplier, which is the Gazprom company.
Unfortunately, as a rule, consumer countries are interested in agents. But right now I’m not, naturally, talking of our situation, it stands alone and one should deal with it, but, as a matter of principle, I’ll repeat that we do not need any agents at all if they break the relationship pattern or raise gas prices for consumers. We seek transparent and direct relations. Of course, we’ll discuss these questions, there is no doubt about that.
Tsvetana Krasteva: You have mentioned three major energy projects between Bulgaria and Russia as well as the Belene nuclear power plant.
Dmitry Medvedev: I didn’t mention the plant, and it’s good that you referred to it.
Tsvetana Krasteva: At the same time, we have been witnessing the world crisis already affecting Russia. Can you say with certainty that on the Russian side there will be no slowing down of those projects because of the crisis?
Dmitry Medvedev: You know, if all of us work appropriately, we will be able to implement most diverse plans that we agreed and approved some time ago. No one likes the crisis, everybody has hard time living through crises and implementing investment projects. But we should separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on most profitable and important projects. The projects you’ve mentioned appear to be very beneficial for Bulgaria and Russia as well as for Europe as a whole, and efforts should focus on them. Maybe, it’s worthwhile to waive some secondary themes and minor projects. But as to major and fundamental themes, we will work on them, that’s for sure.
Tsvetana Krasteva: I know you are pressed for time. Do you have time to take two questions of a more personal nature?
Dmitry Medvedev: You are welcome.
Tsvetana Krasteva: My first question concerns your professional and personal relations with the Prime-Minister of Russia. I refer to your recent criticism addressed to the Government which occurred even in your Address to the Federal Assembly.
Dmitry Medvedev: In fact, we maintain very good relations with Prime-Minister Vladimir Putin. We are colleagues from way back and I worked under direction of President Putin. Today, we work together, me as President and he as Prime-Minister nominated to this office by me. Thus, we maintain good and friendly relations but this does not mean that the President should turn a blind eye to the existing problems. Therefore during my meetings with the Government, Ministers, I draw their attention to the existing deficiencies, which is absolutely normal. This is quite a routine procedure and in this respect attention should be focused on real interests of our country's citizens, rather than on somebody's ambition or somebody's perception of this or that problem. This is precisely the assumption that I proceed from and so does the Prime-Minister. Therefore no problem appears in this respect.
Tsvetana Krasteva: You took the Presidency at a difficult time.
Dmitry Medvedev: Oh yes.
Tsvetana Krasteva: What has been the main challenge and the main lesson for you in your office?
Dmitry Medvedev: That's a good question. You know, in my opinion, the main lesson learned by me during the period of my Presidency is that one cannot precisely foresee future developments ruling out any alternative, sometimes dramatic, scenarios. In other words, problems sometimes appear which, frankly speaking, you couldn't even have imagined and which (even if you tried to be prepared for them) you don't really consider relevant at a given time. I had to face quite a few of those developments during my Presidency.
To tell you the truth, for obvious reasons, I didn't want that my assumption of the Presidential Office coincide with a decision to use armed forces. However, I had to take such a decision. I refer to the events in the Caucasus and the aggression by Georgia against small entities which, in fact, were parts of its territory.
Of course, I would like to see an economic environment, economic conditions, which would be somewhat different from those existing today. But they are as they are. And I have to deal with the existing situation. By the way, the gas crisis mentioned by you is not really a sort of a situation for which one would like to prepare and, frankly speaking, which one would like to deal with. But life itself plunges us in a situation in which we have to respond straightforwardly and explicitly. Those are, perhaps, the main lessons which I had to learn recently as President.
Tsvetana Krasteva: Thank you for the interview.
Dmitry Medvedev: I thank you.