Western media often tries to present the current political situation in Russia as an ongoing struggle between the groups of two political leaders – President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime-minister Vladimir Putin. According to the documents published by the famous WikiLeaks American diplomats describe the relationship between Putin and Medvedev as the hierarchy of Batman and Robin.
When asked about the mentioned above reference Vladimir Putin answered in his interview given to CNN’s Larry King:
“Well, you know when Mr Medvedev and I were considering how to structure our relations and how to run the election campaign, the 2008 presidential election campaign, we were very well aware that many would try to create a split in our common approach to the building of the Russian state and the development of our economy. Because our interaction is a considerable factor in the country’s domestic policy. But it did not occur to us that it would be done in such an impudent, brazen and aggressive fashion.
Such claims of course are aimed at insulting one of us, at damaging our sense of pride and at provoking us into taking steps that would destroy our effective interaction in running the country. I have to tell you that we have already grown used to this. I urge all those who are engaged in such attempts to calm down.”
(Video interview and transcript of the TV interview Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave to CNN’s Larry King are available on the Prime Minister’s site.)
Larry King also asked Russia’s Prime Minister about the leak of diplomatic correspondence published by the WikiLeaks group?
Vladimir Putin: “Some experts believe that somebody is deliberately “inflating” WikiLeaks. Building up the site’s authority in order to use it to further their political ends. That is one possible theory, and this is the opinion of experts, which has some currency in our country too. I think that if this is not the case, it shows that the diplomatic service should be more careful with its documents. Such leaks have happened before, in the previous era. I don’t see it as any kind of catastrophe.”
The phenomenon of WikiLeaks should be examined thoroughly. Russia’s main TV channel (TV1) offers its political analysis provided by prominent experts, who suggest WikiLeaks being a CIA project. The main figure of WikiLeaks Julian Assange seems to be a person from nowhere, who has constantly been moving from one place to another. It sounds quite ridiculous, that several governments try to arrest Assange, but can’t succeed. Information published by WikiLeaks doesn’t really contain any revelations, the statistics on wars is controversial: the numbers of casualties are even smaller than the official statistics suggests.
The promotion of WikiLeaks by western mass media looks suspicious, too. WikiLeaks is somehow portrayed as the Voice of Truth and kind of impartial referee, but in fact it seems to be a special project designed by one of the major political players to serve the player's particular interests.
