Today Putin gave press conference on European-Russian issues after Russia-EU summit.
EU-Russian relations get stronger with every year and now free travel (no visas required) between Russia and the EU bloc is being discussed. However, Russian citizens have to apply for visas to get into former Soviet Baltic states. Kaliningrad, the western city of Russia, geographically detached from the rest of the country, is hardly accessible now for its own citizens, who want to see their families.
The tensions between Baltic States and Russia recently have been increasing. Putin said that “It was a mistake for Estonian government not to attend the Victory Day celebration in Moscow”. However, Putin is willing to forgive and to continue normal relations with this country.
One of the questions at the press-conference was about signing the border agreements with Latvia. This triggered Putin right away. He said:
“We are ready to sign the agreements you’ve been asking about with Estonia, and with Latvia. We just hope they won’t be followed by the foolish in their content territorial requirements. Today there’s 21st century in Europe, and when one country is challenging another with territorial issues, and at the same time wants to ratify border agreements – that’s complete nonsense, soft boiled shoes!”
(‘Soft boiled shoes’ is not any kind of traditional Russian expression. President Putin made it up himself – YM)
Then the situation in the room got even hotter, when Estonian journalists addressed Putin with a very populist question:
“Why is it so hard for you to say, ‘Sorry for the occupation’? If you were to say these words, we would all be able to live together so much easier.”
This fired Putin up:
"You speak good Russian and I am sure that you read Russian just as well. Please take a look at the resolution passed by the Congress of People’s Deputies in 1989, where it is written black on white that the Congress of People’s Deputies denounces the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and considers it legally invalid. It did not reflect the opinion of the Soviet people but was the personal affair of Stalin and Hitler.
"How can we be more clear and precise on this point? Or would you rather that we repeated these words every year? What do you think, what more can we say? We think that this question is closed. I will not come back to it. We expressed our view once and that is enough.
"May be I didn’t study in university very well, because I was drinking too much beer in my spare time, but I do remember something, something still is in my head – we had good teachers!"
I see the following problems of a young or malfunctioning democracy: people do have freedom of speech and they are free to ask whatever they like, even addressing a president, but leaders who are used to the old times aren’t quite sure how to handle themselves. You can read the full press-conference coverage on the Kremlin website, however all the ‘shoes’ and ‘beer’ remarks aren't translated literally. Partly independent Russian TV channel NTV published the entertaining extracts of the speech on their website.
