Hard labour
Another striking expression of the president, which immediately became a memorable idiom, was voiced in 2008 at a press conference in the Kremlin. This was the final communication between the head of state and journalists based on the results of his two presidential terms. The meeting lasted almost five hours and was attended by more than a thousand media representatives.
Summing up the results of his work, Vladimir Vladimirovich said:
I am not ashamed of the citizens who voted for me twice, electing me to the post of President of the Russian Federation. All these eight years I worked like a galley slave, from morning to night, and did it with full dedication.
The quote about the galley slave immediately made it to the front pages of most federal publications. The idiom quickly took root in the Russian language; many jokes and demotivators were devoted to it, mainly on the Internet. For example, many Russians who misheard the phrase the first time could not understand why a crab should work on the galleys.
Two-room apartment
At the end of 2012, another high-profile event occurred in Russia related to opposition supporters. It was a trial against the domestic feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot. The team has existed since 2011, regularly holding various high-profile events on condition of anonymity.
The activists were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They were sentenced to two years in prison. Putin said his famous words about this:
Contrary to my expectations, they began to develop the case and brought it to court, and the court slapped them with a two-piece penalty. I have nothing to do with it. They wanted it, they got it.
As you know, in March 2012, activists Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich were detained on charges of hooliganism for the so-called punk prayer service, which they held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The action was called “Mother of God, drive Putin away!”
Cudgel of power
September 2000 turned out to be fruitful for loud and resonant statements. It is noteworthy that they were made during interviews with Western journalists. After the meeting with Larry King, the Russian president answered questions from the authoritative socio-political newspaper Figaro. Then one of Putin’s most famous phrases was uttered, which characterized his uncompromising policy for many years.
Unfortunately, it remained in the shadow of many other statements. But in vain. It is believed to contain the key to understanding both the president's foreign and domestic policies. But this becomes clear only now, after many years.
Then, in an interview with French journalists, the president said:
The state holds in its hands a club with which it hits only once. But on the head.
Now many actively recall these words of the president, noting for themselves that Putin did exactly this in all high-profile cases. During the Ukrainian crisis, the fight against terrorism, the “swamp trial”, the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky or the Pussy Riot case.
They're eavesdropping
Interestingly, the situation described above continued. As it turned out later, Putin initially did not know that his statement regarding the Israeli president would be published.
He spoke about the journalists who made his statement public in October 2006 during the “Direct Line”. At the same time, he recalled how representatives of the media were treated in the organization in which he worked previously, meaning the intelligence services.
Regarding representatives of the press, I can say the same thing as we joked when I worked in a completely different organization. They were sent to spy, and they eavesdrop. Ugly.
Interview with Larry King
In September 2000, Putin uttered his next catchphrase during an interview with one of the most famous American journalists, Larry King. Shortly before this, one of the first tragedies occurred during the presidency of Vladimir Vladimirovich. The Russian submarine Kursk crashed in the Barents Sea while less than 200 kilometers from Severomorsk. The disaster occurred on August 12. As a result, the ship ended up at a depth of 108 meters. All 118 crew members on board were killed. This was one of the largest accidents in the Russian submarine fleet after the Great Patriotic War in terms of the number of deaths.
Larry King asked the Russian president what happened to the submarine. To this Putin succinctly replied:
She drowned.
This famous phrase of Putin has become notorious. Because of her, he was often accused of cynicism and callousness.
I do not have anyone to talk to
In the summer of 2007, answering a question from a journalist from the German publication Der Spiegel, Putin launched into lengthy discussions about whether he was a pure democrat, as the correspondent noted.
In particular, the head of state said that, of course, he is an absolute democrat, noting that there are simply no others like him in the world. In the USA there is torture and detention without trial, in Europe there is harsh crackdown on emigrants, in the post-Soviet space, according to him, it is even worse.
In conclusion, he lamented that there is no one else in the world to talk to after the death of the Indian politician and public figure Mahatma Gandhi. The full phrase sounds like this:
Am I a pure democrat? Of course, I am an absolute and pure democrat. But do you know what the problem is? It’s not even a problem, it’s a real tragedy. The fact is that I am the only one, there are simply no others like me in the world. Let's look at what's happening in North America - it's just terrible: torture, homeless people, Guantanamo Bay, detention without trial. Look at what is happening in Europe: the brutal treatment of demonstrators, the use of rubber bullets, tear gas in one capital after another, the killing of demonstrators in the streets. I’m not talking about the post-Soviet space at all. There was only one hope for the guys from Ukraine, but they simply completely discredited themselves, there things simply lead to complete tyranny. A complete violation of the constitution, all laws, and so on. After the death of Mahatma Gandhi, there is no one to talk to.
About envy
In 2006, Vladimir Putin met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. One of the topics at their meeting was the accusations brought against Israeli President Moshe Katsave.
One of the employees of his former office made accusations of sexual harassment against her head of state. Katsav categorically denied these statements, filing a counterclaim alleging libel. Soon the situation continued when journalists found out that law enforcement agencies had statements from several more representatives of the fairer sex who had previously worked with Moshe. They all spoke about persecution by the politician on sexual grounds.
Putin spoke about this situation when it was still relevant. Moreover, he commented on sexual crimes in a very unexpected way.
Say hello to your president. He turned out to be a very powerful man! Ten women raped! I never expected it from him. He surprised us all. We all envy him!
The world community mostly did not appreciate the joke of the Russian president. Especially when it became known that the accusations were justified. In 2010, Moshe Katsav was convicted of rape and other crimes. In total, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
At the same time, Putin did not go back on his words, saying that the true cause of the conflict lies in the dissatisfaction of a significant part of Israeli society with the decisions of its politicians.
Contraceptives
Putin's quotes about politics have also always been distinguished by figurative language, remaining vivid and memorable for a long time. During another “Direct Line”, already in December 2011, the hero of our article, who at that time was the prime minister, commented on the largest anti-government rallies in the history of modern Russia. They took place on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow.
In fact, the protest movement was launched after the State Duma elections, which took place on December 4. Participants in the protests reported massive falsifications, violations and stuffing. One of their key slogans was “For fair elections!”, and the symbol of the actions was a white ribbon. Protests took place throughout the country: up to 150 thousand people gathered in Moscow, and more than 25 thousand dissatisfied in St. Petersburg.
Putin was dismissive of the dissent. In particular, he said:
When I saw something like that on some people’s chests on the screen, I’ll tell you honestly, it was indecent, but, nevertheless, I decided that this was propaganda for the fight against AIDS, that these were some kind of contraceptives, sorry.
In fact, the protesters had white ribbons hanging on their chests, which the president mistook for condoms. Such statements did not prevent him from confidently winning the next presidential election in the first round in March 2012.
