WEBVTT

1
00:00:25.419 --> 00:00:26.719
How are you doing?

2
00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.369
Honestly?

3
00:00:27.369 --> 00:00:28.018
Honestly.

4
00:00:28.018 --> 00:00:29.534
I am doing very well.

5
00:00:29.534 --> 00:00:31.026
I am happy for you.

6
00:00:34.506 --> 00:00:38.419
I will ask questions, and you will hopefully answer.

7
00:00:38.419 --> 00:00:41.196
I will try. Depends on the questions.

8
00:00:41.196 --> 00:00:47.149
We are facing a non-trivial task today. There are actually 20 topics.

9
00:00:47.149 --> 00:00:51.275
There are 20 because you have been in office,

10
00:00:51.275 --> 00:00:54.704
at the helm for 20 years.

11
00:00:54.704 --> 00:00:57.023
Now, the year is 2020 and that is quite symbolic.

12
00:00:57.023 --> 00:01:00.084
Let us not forget that I was Prime Minister for four years,

13
00:01:00.084 --> 00:01:02.067
not President.

14
00:01:06.567 --> 00:01:09.346
The resignation of the Government.

15
00:01:10.346 --> 00:01:14.318
There are a lot of jokes and witticisms on this subject 

16
00:01:14.318 --> 00:01:16.433
on the Internet. The first was probably as follows: because 

17
00:01:16.433 --> 00:01:18.290
of the unusually warm weather in Russia,

18
00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:20.402
its Government has melted away like the snow.

19
00:01:21.062 --> 00:01:22.600
That is funny.

20
00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:25.476
Here is what it looks like. (Showing a photo collage)

21
00:01:25.476 --> 00:01:29.174
Ok, but why exactly did it melt away in parliament, I do not understand.

22
00:01:29.174 --> 00:01:31.632
Well, I suppose they just found this picture.

23
00:01:31.872 --> 00:01:35.834
You know, the Internet is an interesting tool, but at times inaccurate.

24
00:01:38.534 --> 00:01:43.175
True. And now, all kidding aside, in fact, Medvedev’s government,

25
00:01:43.175 --> 00:01:46.958
his cabinet, underwent a reshuffle not that long ago,

26
00:01:46.958 --> 00:01:49.314
just in 2018, after the election.

27
00:01:54.854 --> 00:02:01.480
Some left – Dvorkovich, Shuvalov, Men’, Abyzov,

28
00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:04.589
though let us not even go there in the latter's case;

29
00:02:04.589 --> 00:02:06.280
so they started to work.

30
00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:08.492
What happened over this year and a half to provoke…

31
00:02:08.772 --> 00:02:12.512
First, more might have happened in a year and a half,

32
00:02:12.512 --> 00:02:17.241
or two years. Secondly, the previous cabinet has really done a lot 

33
00:02:17.241 --> 00:02:21.404
in terms of preparing the main phase of the implementation 

34
00:02:21.404 --> 00:02:26.344
of national projects. They had to identify national development goals.

35
00:02:26.344 --> 00:02:29.238
And this only seems easy at first glance.

36
00:02:29.238 --> 00:02:31.637
In fact, it is an enormous effort.

37
00:02:31.637 --> 00:02:36.718
Then, tools needed to be developed on which to rely in order to achieve 

38
00:02:36.718 --> 00:02:40.529
these national goals. The Government did that as well.

39
00:02:40.529 --> 00:02:45.257
But then, I felt some inner certainty that this is when new people 

40
00:02:45.257 --> 00:02:49.844
should come in to pursue work in new areas of crucial importance;

41
00:02:49.844 --> 00:02:54.925
people with modern training and commitment to achieving the overarching 

42
00:02:54.925 --> 00:02:57.254
goal on key development elements.

43
00:02:57.254 --> 00:03:00.994
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that 

44
00:03:00.994 --> 00:03:02.547
the core has remained.

45
00:03:02.547 --> 00:03:05.228
Some people from the Executive Office,

46
00:03:05.228 --> 00:03:09.957
including those directly involved in the work on national projects,

47
00:03:09.957 --> 00:03:12.003
have moved to the Government.

48
00:03:12.003 --> 00:03:14.261
This is of paramount importance,

49
00:03:14.261 --> 00:03:16.449
I believe. I will tell you why.

50
00:03:16.449 --> 00:03:20.895
If they were behind the development of these national projects 

51
00:03:20.895 --> 00:03:25.270
and the goals we are expected to achieve in terms of national 

52
00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:30.351
development, it stands to logic that they should be tasked with putting 

53
00:03:30.351 --> 00:03:34.303
into practice exactly what they have suggested as these 

54
00:03:34.303 --> 00:03:36.562
goals and tools to achieve them.

55
00:03:36.562 --> 00:03:38.485
Therefore, some people from the Executive Office have come 

56
00:03:38.485 --> 00:03:40.733
to the Government to do it because that is where it is done.

57
00:03:41.193 --> 00:03:43.297
And some from the Government have moved on to the Executive Office…

58
00:03:43.297 --> 00:03:44.990
Yes, yes, let them work here.

59
00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:47.767
So changing the order of the addends does change the sum?

60
00:03:47.767 --> 00:03:49.417
Yes, it does, for sure.

61
00:03:49.417 --> 00:03:53.433
That is why there is nothing unusual or unexpected here.

62
00:03:53.433 --> 00:03:56.905
You can of course ask me, I did say there would be no 

63
00:03:56.905 --> 00:03:58.898
change, no plans for that. Yes,

64
00:03:58.898 --> 00:04:02.948
I did. If I had said that I was going to change the Government 

65
00:04:02.948 --> 00:04:06.976
tomorrow, all work would have just stopped the day after tomorrow.

66
00:04:06.976 --> 00:04:10.027
As the saying goes, call it a day and hit the hay.

67
00:04:10.027 --> 00:04:12.071
That is why we call it a “special operation”.

68
00:04:12.111 --> 00:04:12.833
It is not.

69
00:04:12.833 --> 00:04:14.929
No one knew. Did anyone know?

70
00:04:14.929 --> 00:04:15.362
I did.

71
00:04:15.362 --> 00:04:16.301
Anybody else?

72
00:04:16.301 --> 00:04:17.674
Is that not enough?

73
00:04:17.674 --> 00:04:19.914
When did you make the decision?

74
00:04:19.914 --> 00:04:20.998
I will not say.

75
00:04:20.998 --> 00:04:22.949
When did you tell Medvedev?

76
00:04:22.949 --> 00:04:25.117
That is between the two of us.

77
00:04:25.117 --> 00:04:27.501
But we should know, shouldn’t we?

78
00:04:27.501 --> 00:04:30.247
We have enjoyed very frank, collegial,

79
00:04:30.247 --> 00:04:33.932
friendly relations with Mr Medvedev for many years.

80
00:04:33.932 --> 00:04:35.984
We have no secrets from one another.

81
00:04:35.984 --> 00:04:38.492
Therefore, we discussed this issue with him.

82
00:04:38.492 --> 00:04:41.712
You mean earlier? Or did you just confront him with the fact?

83
00:04:41.712 --> 00:04:45.635
We discussed it earlier and he knew what was going on.

84
00:04:48.555 --> 00:04:51.250
He has been given a position invented for him specifically,

85
00:04:51.290 --> 00:04:53.446
which never existed. You even had to hastily adopt a law 

86
00:04:53.446 --> 00:04:54.361
to provide for this post.

87
00:04:54.361 --> 00:04:56.107
Why hastily? The law was adopted.

88
00:04:56.107 --> 00:04:59.685
The appointment came first, and the law followed…

89
00:04:59.685 --> 00:05:02.751
There is nothing out of the ordinary here.

90
00:05:02.751 --> 00:05:07.352
If there is something in the legislation that needs adjustment,

91
00:05:07.352 --> 00:05:11.048
the President in accordance with the Fundamental Law has the right 

92
00:05:11.048 --> 00:05:14.854
to fill in this gap in the legislation by issuing an executive order,

93
00:05:15.194 --> 00:05:18.944
which will be followed by the adoption of a relevant law.

94
00:05:18.944 --> 00:05:21.347
This is normal practice. Nothing unusual.

95
00:05:21.347 --> 00:05:24.985
There is a certain feeling of hastiness. As if you needed some solution…

96
00:05:24.985 --> 00:05:28.229
Your feeling is not exactly the same as reality.

97
00:05:28.229 --> 00:05:30.594
You may have all sorts of feelings.

98
00:05:30.594 --> 00:05:35.257
You may feel that you are running a high temperature judging by your 

99
00:05:35.257 --> 00:05:38.145
senses, but this might not be the case.

100
00:05:38.145 --> 00:05:41.592
You need a thermometer to know whether you have a fever or not.

101
00:05:41.592 --> 00:05:44.716
So, we have nothing out of the ordinary here. I will say it again.

102
00:05:44.716 --> 00:05:48.112
The legal practice is as follows: if there is a gap in the legislation,

103
00:05:48.112 --> 00:05:49.724
a President issues an executive order,

104
00:05:49.724 --> 00:05:51.814
and the provision is later implemented through a law.

105
00:05:51.814 --> 00:05:54.765
Just wait a second. This is number one.

106
00:05:54.765 --> 00:05:57.164
Number two is the question: why should we wait to decide on such 

107
00:05:57.164 --> 00:06:00.649
issues? What will that achieve? According to those who do not have 

108
00:06:00.649 --> 00:06:04.736
a clear understanding of what is going on or are critical about it,

109
00:06:04.736 --> 00:06:09.432
would it be better to spend another six months after the resignation 

110
00:06:09.432 --> 00:06:14.364
of the Government in order to form a new one? Can you imagine what 

111
00:06:14.364 --> 00:06:19.840
a mess the country would be in? There should never be a gap 

112
00:06:19.840 --> 00:06:24.748
in power. Never.

113
00:06:24.748 --> 00:06:29.455
Everything should be discussed and thought through in advance,

114
00:06:29.455 --> 00:06:33.410
in a calm and business-like manner, each step should be prepared,

115
00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.401
and then the decision should be taken and implemented.

116
00:06:36.401 --> 00:06:40.165
We cannot afford to muddle along here.

117
00:06:40.165 --> 00:06:45.652
Russia is not Belgium that can stay a whole year without any government.

118
00:06:51.192 --> 00:06:54.187
The new Government is yet another topic.

119
00:06:54.187 --> 00:06:56.862
And I would like to get back to the old one.

120
00:06:56.862 --> 00:06:59.584
Zhirinovskiy suggested that the Security Council deputy Chairman be 

121
00:06:59.584 --> 00:07:02.963
referred to as vice-president. Is it so, at face value?

122
00:07:02.963 --> 00:07:08.195
No. Because a vice-president is the one to step in for the President 

123
00:07:08.195 --> 00:07:12.137
assuming all his or her rights and responsibilities.

124
00:07:12.137 --> 00:07:16.520
We have introduced the post of deputy Chairman of the Security Council.

125
00:07:16.520 --> 00:07:20.325
The President is Chairman of the Security Council.

126
00:07:20.325 --> 00:07:24.053
And now I have a deputy on this particular track.

127
00:07:25.253 --> 00:07:30.696
Another joke on the Internet: the duo has fallen out of sync.

128
00:07:30.696 --> 00:07:32.108
Nothing is out of sync.

129
00:07:32.108 --> 00:07:33.730
The tandem…

130
00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:36.278
We are working with Mr Medvedev as we used to.

131
00:07:36.278 --> 00:07:38.954
He has switched to another track in his career.

132
00:07:38.954 --> 00:07:40.707
That is true. And natural, too.

133
00:07:42.187 --> 00:07:46.197
As for the choice you made of the new Prime Minister.

134
00:07:46.197 --> 00:07:50.131
Who was on the short list? They mentioned Mishustin,

135
00:07:50.131 --> 00:07:52.854
Sobyanin… You had two executive orders for signing on the table,

136
00:07:52.854 --> 00:07:54.387
and you were hesitating till the last moment.

137
00:07:54.807 --> 00:07:57.675
No one mentioned Mishustin except me.

138
00:07:57.675 --> 00:08:01.396
I can tell you that there were three candidates.

139
00:08:01.396 --> 00:08:02.632
Three?

140
00:08:02.632 --> 00:08:06.516
Yes. Three, or maybe even four candidates were submitted.

141
00:08:06.516 --> 00:08:08.832
But Mishustin was not on the list.

142
00:08:08.832 --> 00:08:10.137
So this was your…

143
00:08:10.137 --> 00:08:11.020
Mine.

144
00:08:11.020 --> 00:08:12.858
What was your reasoning?

145
00:08:12.858 --> 00:08:15.743
I took into account Mr Mishustin’s personal traits 

146
00:08:15.743 --> 00:08:17.589
and professional skills.

147
00:08:21.889 --> 00:08:25.487
And the result of the digitalization he carried out at the institution 

148
00:08:25.487 --> 00:08:27.250
he headed, did you take it into account?

149
00:08:27.250 --> 00:08:31.152
I did. Not so much the fact that he carried it out,

150
00:08:31.152 --> 00:08:34.310
but the fact that he really became an expert in this area.

151
00:08:34.310 --> 00:08:39.469
A man of practice, who understands very well what needs to be done 

152
00:08:39.469 --> 00:08:43.087
and who knows how to do it; and he is doing it 

153
00:08:43.087 --> 00:08:45.474
and achieving concrete results.

154
00:08:45.474 --> 00:08:49.453
But what about the fact that he is a tax collector by trade,

155
00:08:49.453 --> 00:08:51.274
in other words, he is accustomed to taking,

156
00:08:51.274 --> 00:08:53.946
while this position is more about giving?

157
00:08:53.946 --> 00:08:59.410
This is a very primitive understanding of the work of the tax service.

158
00:08:59.410 --> 00:09:03.693
Yes, of course, it is one of the main bodies bringing funds 

159
00:09:03.693 --> 00:09:06.118
to the state treasury; however,

160
00:09:06.118 --> 00:09:10.421
to think that a tax collector walks around with a club,

161
00:09:10.421 --> 00:09:12.716
squeezing money out of people is very primitive.

162
00:09:12.716 --> 00:09:15.004
No, it is quite the opposite.

163
00:09:15.004 --> 00:09:19.106
His mission was to ease the situation for taxpayers,

164
00:09:19.106 --> 00:09:22.942
to make the procedure more transparent and clear and less 

165
00:09:22.942 --> 00:09:24.845
burdensome for citizens.

166
00:09:29.405 --> 00:09:34.718
An honest man who knows he properly pays all due taxes has the right 

167
00:09:34.718 --> 00:09:38.645
to expect that the state will use the money wisely.

168
00:09:38.645 --> 00:09:44.035
But the first thing to do is not to simply extract money from people –

169
00:09:44.035 --> 00:09:48.886
it is to organize the system in such a way that both the state 

170
00:09:48.886 --> 00:09:54.353
and the tax payers could comfortably work with each other and it would 

171
00:09:54.353 --> 00:09:56.894
be clear how things are arranged,

172
00:09:56.894 --> 00:10:00.668
and everybody could pay taxes without impediment,

173
00:10:00.668 --> 00:10:03.594
without unnecessary hassle and stress,

174
00:10:03.594 --> 00:10:07.675
and without running the risk of doing something that 

175
00:10:07.675 --> 00:10:10.370
the state may interpret as illegal.

176
00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:17.766
When this team was formed, some noticed, first of all,

177
00:10:17.766 --> 00:10:22.176
that you had broken, or at least it was perceived that way,

178
00:10:22.176 --> 00:10:25.465
certain rules that you had used to stick to,

179
00:10:25.465 --> 00:10:29.202
such as ”not to turn your back on your old mates“,

180
00:10:29.202 --> 00:10:32.389
to avoid dismissals of those criticized and not to pay heed to critics 

181
00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:35.066
on the Internet, to public opinion.

182
00:10:35.066 --> 00:10:37.327
This time, the most toxic figures,

183
00:10:37.327 --> 00:10:41.122
who had been most fiercely criticized in the media or social networks,

184
00:10:41.122 --> 00:10:43.090
walked away to be replaced by ‘no-names’ –

185
00:10:43.090 --> 00:10:45.487
that is, people you had to ‘google’ or ‘yandex’.

186
00:10:45.487 --> 00:10:51.076
You know, the criterion was not lack of knowledge about those people,

187
00:10:51.076 --> 00:10:54.397
it was their professional qualifications.

188
00:10:54.397 --> 00:10:58.366
I know, and Mikhail Mishustin knows these people 

189
00:10:58.366 --> 00:11:00.553
as competent professionals.

190
00:11:00.553 --> 00:11:03.688
And I was to a considerable extent guided specifically 

191
00:11:03.688 --> 00:11:06.171
by his opinion in this regard.

192
00:11:06.171 --> 00:11:09.753
There were a number of candidates whom I had doubts about,

193
00:11:09.753 --> 00:11:14.832
but Mr Mishustin would prove to me that this or that person 

194
00:11:14.832 --> 00:11:16.949
was best fit for the job.

195
00:11:16.949 --> 00:11:19.737
I agreed with him because, at the end of the day,

196
00:11:19.737 --> 00:11:23.647
he was forming his own team and the final concrete result it achieves 

197
00:11:23.647 --> 00:11:26.479
will depend on the efficiency of its work.

198
00:11:26.479 --> 00:11:28.764
What window of time do they have? I mean,

199
00:11:28.764 --> 00:11:30.818
when will you evaluate their professional efficiency?

200
00:11:30.818 --> 00:11:33.232
There is no window of time.

201
00:11:33.232 --> 00:11:37.964
All of these people are, I will say it again, competent,

202
00:11:37.964 --> 00:11:40.924
they all are well informed and know their job.

203
00:11:40.924 --> 00:11:43.496
Many of them worked, one way or another,

204
00:11:43.496 --> 00:11:47.977
on the national projects and national development targets,

205
00:11:47.977 --> 00:11:51.286
so they are totally in the know.

206
00:11:51.286 --> 00:11:53.769
Thus, there can be no window, no time for warming up.