Russian prime minister medvedev participated in the 10-day program “dialogue with medvedev”, and five russian television journalists raised questions with the prime minister and broadcast live. In the programme, medvedev summarized the work of the government over the past year and set out his vision and expectations for the mission next year. In particular, he highlighted the damage to both sides caused by western sanctions and criticized united states policy。
After the programme began, medvedev began by summarizing the work of the government this year. He stated that 2014 was a unique year for russia, “we are not completely out of the effects of the 2008 crisis, and we look forward to an increase in GDP this year, with inflation projected to reach 9 per cent”. Turning to the issue of the devaluation of the rouble, medvedev said that the rouble was now overvalued and underestimated and would be reassessed in the future. In the long run, the russian economy has suffered from a sharp fall in the rouble exchange rate. Medvedev appealed to the population not to make reckless decisions, including to exchange foreign currency at banks, “i deposit the money in the rouble and share it with the people”
Turning to western sanctions, medvedev said: “we are not the ones that imposed them, nor are we the ones that lifted them. In the history of the soviet union and other countries, including china, various sanctions have been imposed. Some projects have been frozen and entrepreneurs have not been able to make money, but these countries have finally proceeded according to their own plans. In a few years, russia will become self-sufficient and no longer need to import foreign agricultural products.” he stressed that “the cost of sanctions is roughly tens of billions of dollars, and the russian economy is likely to lose tens of billions of dollars as a result of sanctions. According to economists' calculations, the european economy has lost 40 billion euros this year, and will lose 50 billion euros next year, only because of its refusal to perform contracts with russia and the imposition of restrictions.”
Medvedev also criticized the united states. He said that his personal relationship with united states president barack obama was not so bad, “but the problem is not how we relate, but the united states government is now performing poorly and unpredictablely. Now that the ball is in the hands of the united states, as long as they want to return to normal relations, we do not want to argue with anyone or declare war against anyone.”
With regard to the ukrainian crisis, medvedev said that for almost 20 years russia had paid $80 billion for ukrainian gas. Russia used to provide gas to ukraine at a price of between $40 and $50 per 1,000 cubic metre, which is essentially free of charge. “even now, russia has given ukraine a discount of $100. If the natural gas conflict between the two parties cannot be resolved through negotiation, it will be decided by the stockholm court.” medvedev indicated that oil prices at the end of last year were more than $110 per barrel, that they are now $670 and that natural gas prices may have to be adjusted next year. At the same time, he indicated that the possibility of restructuring the government was not excluded. “the government is not a once-in-a-lifetime institution. We have reformed, the members of the government have come and come, and recently we have withdrawn a ministry and created a new ministry, operating by region. This proves that the government is not a rigid whole, but a dynamic institution.”
According to the russian newspaper perceptions 10, medvedev addressed many pressing political and economic issues during the dialogue. According to political analysts, the main responsibility for the depreciation of the rouble lies with the governor of the central bank. Moreover, russia's inability to quickly replace foreign imports of agricultural products was a criticism of the ministers of agriculture and industry and trade. The head of the russian political information technology centre, buning, argued that medvedev spoke of the consequences of the sanctions, contrary to president putin's earlier assessment that “kindu believes that russia can replace imported products and create working conditions and develop agriculture. In the view of medvedev, sanctions have caused enormous losses to the economy, amounting to tens of billions of dollars”。
The “dialogue with medvedev” programme is the traditional way of dialogue between medvedev and the major russian television station, the first of its kind, on 24 december 2008, during his presidency, and was broadcast live as the seventh dialogue of medvedev。
