The Hindu : Triumphant Putin vows to modernise Russia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

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International

Triumphant Putin vows to modernise Russia

By Vladimir Radyuhin

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at a news conference in Moscow on Monday. — AP

MOSCOW, MARCH 15. Emerging triumphant from Sunday's presidential poll the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, vowed to push forward with all-round modernisation of the country.

With 99.2 per cent of the ballots counted, Mr. Putin bagged 71.2 per cent of the vote. The Communist candidate, Nikolai Kharitonov, showed the next best result with 13.7 per cent, while the other four contenders had to do with single-digit vote shares.

In his first news conference after re-election, Mr. Putin promised drastic steps to propel Russia forward.

"We will modernise the country (and) will act decisively," he said, adding that the Government would have to act with caution, "so as not to damage or undermine people's confidence in what we are doing".

"The art of politics is to strike a golden balance between what is necessary and what is feasible", Mr. Putin said.

In the run-up to the March 14 vote, Mr. Putin appointed a new Prime Minister and overhauled the Cabinet to make it better geared to tasks facing the country in his second four-year term.

"The main priority for us is to guarantee economic growth and I hope we will achieve it", Mr. Putin stressed.

He acknowledged there had been no big improvement in living standards during his first term.

"What has been done recently is not well-being," he said. "It is rather the dawn of well-being". In the sphere of foreign policy, Mr. Putin said he would uphold Russia's national interests on the basis of compromise, but ruled out any "aggressive methods" or "confrontation".

"The main goal of our policy is not to demonstrate any imperial ambitions, but secure favourable external conditions for Russia's growth," he said, mentioning partnership with India and China among his foreign policies priorities. "We will build a multi-vector foreign policy, work with the United States, the European Union,... with our Asian partners China and India, with countries in the Asia-Pacific region".

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