Putin determines Russia’s development on his own, Kremlin says

Putin

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin determines the way of Russia’s development on his own, because this right was delegated to him by the country’s people who voted for him in the election, but the analytical approach made by French President Emmanuel Macron in describing likely scenarios of Russia’s development looks impressive to the Kremlin, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Friday.

"It is a far more analytical approach of the kind that the Russian side, including the Russian president, finds impressive. He appreciates his contacts with the French president and the discussions on the problems of bilateral relations and regional issues, which regularly take place between the two heads of state," Peskov said when asked about Macron’s vision of the likely development scenarios for Russia.

"Of course, the scenario of our development is the one chosen by the president to whom our people in the elections delegated the right to choose this scenario," Peskov said.

In his opinion, in fairness one must admit that Macron’s scenarios "look far better than the superficial and Russophobic apocalyptical scenarios that can be often heard or read in various expert circles."

The scenarios that the Russian leader is implementing together with the Russian government "contains all elements President Macron has mentioned."

"It’s Russia’s openness to cooperation with European countries, with African countries and with countries in the Far East and Southeast Asia and Russia’s orientation to good-natured and mutually beneficial relations," Peskov said.

In an interview to Economist magazine Macron said that in his opinion Russia might follow any of the three development scenarios: building constructive relations with the EU, becoming a superpower with reliance on its internal potential, which is unlikely; and becoming China’s vassal, which is an option Moscow will certainly dislike.