Stung by Criticism Over Georgia, Putin Asks West for a Little Understanding

MOSCOW — For three and a half hours on Thursday, in tones that were alternately pugilistic and needy, Vladimir V. Putin tried to explain himself.

More than a month has passed since Russia sent columns of armor into Georgia, asserting its sphere of influence with a confidence not seen since the days of the Soviet Union. But since the first hours of this crisis, Russian leaders have been asking the same question with mounting frustration: Why is everyone blaming us for this?

Mr. Putin, Russia’s prime minister, made his case on Thursday in Sochi, Russia, before the Valdai Discussion Club, a collection of Russia experts from around the world. Comments aimed at the West were, at times, rueful — he said he liked President Bush more than many Americans do — and even respectful, as when he asked for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of Sept. 11.

As for the criticism that has cascaded down on his government, Mr. Putin expressed only bafflement that those in the West did not accept Russia’s explanation that it had simply acted in defense of its citizens. How did they expect Russia to respond to the shelling of its peacekeepers in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, he asked — with “slingshots?” Did they expect him to “brandish a penknife?”

“What else could we do?” the Interfax news agency reported him as saying. “Do you think we should have wiped the bloody snot away and hung our heads?”

His plea was serious. This week, Russia’s diplomatic relations with Europe frayed badly during negotiations about a withdrawal of troops from Georgia. President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s decision to recognize the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has made even longtime allies like China and Serbia wary of standing with Russia...

Traditionally, the Russian president controls foreign and security policy, and the prime minister acts chiefly as a manager of the economy. Yet it was Mr. Putin who rushed to the Caucasus battlefield, flying back from China to meet with Russian generals and visit the Russian wounded. It was “a shame,” Mr. Putin said, that the crisis had fallen to Mr. Medvedev, whom he described as “an intelligent, contemporary man of liberal views.” He said the decision to invade was Mr. Medvedev’s; not a single tank, Mr. Putin said, would have moved without direct orders from Mr. Medvedev. “I never impose my advice on him,” Mr. Putin said.

We totally believe you, Pooty. Just because your actions are the direct opposite of your words is no reason for us to doubt you.

“As for your humble servant,” he added, “earlier, the problems of economic development consumed 80 percent of my time. Now I spend much more on it.”

And you're doing such a fine job, Pooty, CARRY ON. You were damaging your economy way before the invasion by corruption and destructive non-market oriented intervention. But the invasion was the crowning glory, a stroke of genius that is paying off handsomely. I'm sure Russia will remember you with uhm... not gratitude, uhm... not admiration, uhm... well just settle for the fact that they'll never forget you.

Yes, NY Times has spun the above. This tells me that someone, somewhere at the NYT wouldn’t mind at all seeing another Cold War. <<<

It might increase sales....and they may think Russia will win next one.

Cold wars are hot wars, the minute some fool fires a shot.

[said with sarcastic forethought.]

Thank you for the ping and to everyone showing so much support of this small country! and to Cheburashka - you CANNOT be more right! As I once wrote here, all Russians need to do is to learn respect others irrespective of their size... but for now they only respect brutal force....

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