Ex-Chancellor Schröder defends Putin in Helsinki

Former German leader calls for continuity of Ostpolitik and construction of undersea pipeline

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is adhering to his claim from a few years aback, according to which Vladimir Putin is a good democrat.

"I have not changed my characterisation of the Russian President, and I will not take my words back", Schröder said at a press conference in Helsinki on Monday.

Schröder also refused to go retract a statement that had angered Estonia, according to which the removal of the Soviet-era statue of a soldier from the centre of Tallinn was "tasteless and disrespectful".

"The statue depicts a soldier mourning his dead comrades", Schröder said in Helsinki. "Those who know history know that these soldiers fell in a battle that brought liberation from German fascism. That is why I have my own views of the action taken [in Estonia]."

Following Schröder's criticism on April 27th, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip cancelled a planned meeting with Schröder, formally because of a shortage of time.

In Helsinki Schröder promoted the current natural gas pipeline project. He is the chairman of the shareholders' association of the Russian-German company Nord Stream, which is planning to set up an undersea gas pipeline.

In November 2004, when he was still the German Chancellor, Schröder amazed television viewers by giving an affirmative answer when asked by an interviewer if considered Putin a "model democrat".

On Monday, Schröder gave historical reasons for his view. He noted that because of the Tsarist regime and subsequently because of communism, Russia was not experienced in democracy. He said that under Boris Yeltsin Russia was "an open society, but the state began to break apart".

Addressing the annual meeting of the German-Finnish Chamber of Commerce, Schröder even hinted that Russia, a country with nuclear weapons, could have turned into a failed state in the 1990s, with dire consequences for Europe.

"Democracy is impossible without functioning structures of state", Schröder said at his press conference.

"That is why Putin's task is to restore the state to its rightful place as a guarantor of the future of the citizens and security."

While admitting that mistakes had been made in Russia, Schröder praised Putin's achievements, saying that economically as well as in domestic and foreign policy, he had turned Russia onto the "road of stability and reliability".

Schröder lashed out at what he sees as a "wrong and even dangerous view" that a distance should be taken to Russia and that it should be seen as an adversary.

In his view, Finland and Germany are actually obligated to continue "the Ostpolitik of Urho Kekkonen and Willy Brandt", and to build close and trusting relations between Russia and the EU.

He also felt that supporting the gas pipeline is the obligation of every EU member state.

"I have not changed my characterisation of the Russian President, and I will not take my words back", Schroder said.

A sign of the new leadership and its nepotic origin:

Son of Russia's FSB chief awarded for his work in Rosneft

Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded 26 y.o. Andrei Patrushev, son of the Federal Security Service (FSB) director, with the Order of Honour for, as it is said in the decree, "labour achievements and long-term diligent work" in the Rosneft company, Russian media reported.

Andrei Patrushev works in the Rosneft hardly more than 7 months, since September 2006, when he was appointed an adviser of chairman of board the state oil company, Igor Sechin, who also holds the post of Deputy Chief of Presidential administration. 62 y.o. Victor Platonovich Patrushev, brother of Nikolai Patrushev and uncle of Andrei Patrushev, is also awarded, he has got the Friendship Order. Victor Patrushev is a professional ship-builder and till 2000 worked in a scientific research institute in St. Petersburg - now he is working as an assistant to administrative director of Northwest branch of Open Society Megafon.

Victor Patrushev had been awarded by Putin also earlier. In November, 2006 he received the Order of Honour for merits in development of physical culture and sports. Then in the decree he was named an adviser of chairman of Petersburg sports club Dynamo, according to newspaper Vedomosti. It is known about the younger son of the FSB director, that four years back Andrei Patrushev graduated from the FSB Academy where classmate was Pavel Fradkov, the younger son of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

According to daily Kommersant, the previous employment of Andrei Patrushev before the Rosneft was the job of deputy chief of the FSB's 9th department of Directorate 'P'. This department is called 'oil' department at the FSB as its employees have steadfastly been watching everything occuring in the oil market.

Andrei's older brother Dmitry Patrushev holds a post of Vneshtorgbank vice-president; the banks is said to be responsible for delivery of credits to the oil companies. Bank’s other vice-president is Sergei Matvienko, whose mother, Valentina Matvienko is the governor of St. Petersburg.

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