How to translate addresses by the great and the good

[spot]

I came across this in a speech (http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/05/06/59626.html) delivered yesterday in, of all places, Germany, by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation - "The population must not associate the market economy and democracy with poverty and anarchy, and the market economy must not be associated with an absolute rule by oligarchs who rob millions of people...."

translate: Putin said recently, in effect, that Capitalism is properly associated in the minds of the dispossessed majority with absolute rule by oligarchs who rob their fellow citizens and hold in check the legitimate aspirations of the world community. "Sure, some people may dislike it, in the past decade some people got accustomed to stealing billions and to use both mass media and some other civil institutions in their group interests," he continued.

[john8pies]

Thanks for the translation, spot - no wonder so many "important" people are regarded with at best disdain and at worst contempt when they spout off like that!

[Scrat]

The Russian people saw their country looted by the oligarchs and others with the help of the west, mainly by the means of hidden bank accounts in the west. Thievery ran rampant through the system, the Russian Mafia took over the banks under Yeltsin. Peoples bank accounts were cleaned out and taken to Switzerland.

People literally went to the bank to take out savings to buy food and they were told that they had no money in the account. Where did it go?

I would like to see where this is going to go. Russia believes he was partly responsible for the Beslan incident also. Those Kulaks would steal from a hungry baby.

06 May 2005 17:39
Russia"s ex-minister may face 60-year prison term in USA.


On Thursday evening, the prosecutor’s office of Pennsylvania officially filed charges against Russia’s former atomic energy minister Yevgeniy Adamov. NTV television has reported that if Adamov were found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison and would have to pay a fine of up to $2m.
Adamov is accused of cheating the US government by means of creating shell companies, which were using funds allocated by the US Energy Department for enhancing Russia’s nuclear safety. Swiss authorities have already received a request for Adamov’s extradition.

On May 9, Adamov is expected to voice his position with regard to the possibility of using a shortened procedure for his extradition to the United States. So far, the ex-minister and his lawyers have not worked out a common position on the extradition procedure. A lawyer for Adamov in Switzerland declared earlier that if Adamov declined to accept the shortened procedure, the extradition process could take about a month, while a Swiss official mentioned a period of 40 to 60 days in connection with this.

At the request of US authorities, Adamov was detained on May 2 in Switzerland, where he arrived to settle a problem with his daughter’s bank accounts, which had been frozen. Presently, the ex-minister is in custody in Switzerland. A criminal case against Adamov has been filed by the prosecutor’s office in Pittsburgh, as the ex-minister is a co-owner of a consulting firm incorporated there. Adamov is suspected of embezzling $9m provided by the USA for enhancing Russia’s nuclear safety. The prosecution believes that the ex-minister has transferred the money to bank accounts in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Former senior defense minister Nikolay Mikhailov thinks that “the Americans have chosen the right target for pursuit, as Adamov has secret information of supreme importance, and the extradition of such a high-ranking official to the USA is an extremely sensitive issue for Russia.”

The former deputy defense minister believes that the arrest warrant for Adamov, issued by US law enforcement agencies, is politically motivated and is related to Adamov’s work as atomic energy minister in the past. Against the interests of the US State Department, Adamov has done a lot for the building of Russia’s nuclear power plant in Iran, Mikhailov has noted in an interview with RBC. He added that this project was a serious “irritant” for Americans.

Federal Security Service (FSB) ex-chief Nikolay Kovalyov is also positive that Adamov’s case can be used for political purposes. “American authorities will be striving to persuade Adamov to cooperate with the prosecution. And will be pressing (Adamov) to admit the fact of provision of assistance to Iran in the development of nuclear technologies. That is why such a fuss has been made of all this. Russia’s position has not changed. Weapons of mass destruction should not be proliferated. Russia strictly conforms to all its obligations. This also applies to Iran, to which Russia has never provided any assistance. This is the government’s clear policy,” he said in an interview with Channel One television yesterday.

Missile Forces commander-in-chief Nikolay Solovtsov pointed out in connection with this that Adamov had not been in the group of people who were given access to military secrets in accordance with the General Staff’s resolution. “In general, many people know the situation in the Missile Forces. There are some secrets to which a limited group of people has access. As for secrets specifically relating to the Missile Forces, Adamov has no valuable information,” Solovtsov said.