May said she did not
share Putin’s point of view that the "liberal idea has become
obsolete".
ST. PETERSBURG, July
18. /TASS/. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insists that Russian President
Vladimir Putin was right when he said that the liberal idea has become
obsolete.
"I would not
agree with [UK Prime Minister Theresa] May: we can and should compare life in
Russia and in Europe or in other countries of the world. All have their pluses
and minuses. But it is impossible to counterpose one system of values to
another. Moreover, it would be wrong to do that. Other than that, we are guided
by the assertions that were voiced by President Putin in his interview with the
Financial Times," Peskov told journalists on Thursday.
In an interview with
the Financial Time in June, President Putin said he believed liberalism had
"outlived its purposes" and "become obsolete." In his
words, the modern liberal idea had come into contradiction with the interests
of the overwhelming majority of the population. He noted that Russia’s Western
partners also admitted that some of its elements, such as multiculturalism or
denial of traditional values were simply unrealistic. But, he stressed he was
confident that liberal ideas could not be done away with and should go on
existing.
In her speech at the
Royal Institute of International Affairs, or Chatham House, a thinktank, on
Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she did not share Putin’s
point of view that the "liberal idea has become obsolete." "This
is a cynical falsehood. No one comparing the quality of life or economic
success of liberal democracies like the UK, France and Germany to that of the
Russian Federation would conclude that our system is obsolete. But the fact
that he feels emboldened to utter it today indicates the challenge we face as
we seek to defend our values," she said.
Meanwhile, the
Kremlin spokesman said with regret he did not have a possibility to
"follow Mrs. May’s speech" on Wednesday as he had been accompanying
the Russian president on his trip to holy site on Valaam. "These
discussions [on the liberal idea] look not that acute from there," he
noted.
Source: ITAR-TASS
18-07-2019
