Putin Is ‘Master of Compromise,’ Spokesman Says

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15, 2013) Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday described Vladimir Putin as a “fierce” defender of Russia’s national interests but also a “master of compromise” while commenting on everything from the opposition movement to escalating tensions with the U.S.

Peskov’s comments, made on the state-owned Rossia 1 television channel on Sunday night, come amid strained ties between Russia and the U.S. over the recently published Magnitsky list and Russia’s retaliatory blacklist of U.S. officials.

As for Putin’s role as a fierce leader, Peskov said the president would not negotiate with non-parliamentary political opposition, be tolerant toward sexual minorities or make concessions in foreign talks if national interests were at stake, Interfax reported Monday.

Despite his unbending tactics, however, Peskov said Putin is a “very outer-directed” president and a “master of compromise” when Russia’s national interests are not threatened.

“And this is a very paradoxical situation: being so outer-directed and so public as president, this is a person who still after all these years continues to prompt the question, ‘Who is Mr. Putin?'” Peskov said.

If Putin refuses to cooperate with the “uncompromising” non-parliamentary political opposition, it is likely because the opposition has no “constructive agenda,” the spokesman said.

Putin has also developed a “strong immunity to rabid criticism,” Peskov said of the non-parliamentary political opposition, adding that Putin “has never been guided in his actions by the possibility of provoking waves [of criticism] in the West.”

As for the upcoming trial of political opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has repeatedly called for Putin’s ouster at large-scale rallies in Moscow since December 2011, Peskov said the president would not be following it.

“I don’t think that the president should follow any cases of citizens personally,” he said.

Navalny is accused of organizing the theft of 16 million rubles ($516,000) worth of timber from state-owned company KirovLes while serving as an unofficial aide to Kirov region Governor Nikita Belykh several years ago, but his supporters say the case is politically motivated. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Peskov also responded to comparisons of the Navalny case with the ongoing corruption probe at the Defense Ministry, saying the lack of prosecution of senior officials in the Defense Ministry case simply means investigators needed more time because the “scale of activities” at the ministry was larger.