Before Russia took over presidency of the wealthy nations' club this year, some senators in the United States had called for it to be expelled from the G8 over its allegedly poor human rights record and purported backsliding on democracy.
The president, however, said Russia's role in the G8 was crucial and added that the country was a natural member of the association. Speaking to NBC television, he said, "It is hard to imagine how the problems that we regard as key for the world's economy and security could be solved effectively without Russia today."
Russia joined the G8, then G7, in 1997 under President Boris Yeltsin. The country was admitted to the club in a sign of appreciation of its economic reforms and progress toward democracy. The country will host its debut summit of G8 in St. Petersburg on July 15-17.
Putin said Russia's proven oil and natural gas reserves were four times the hydrocarbon wealth of the seven other G8 nations combined.
"How can energy security problems be resolved without taking into account Russia's opinion and without inviting it to contribute to common solutions in this field?" he said.
Russia is also a leading nuclear power, so international non-proliferation and disarmament issues are impossible to tackle without it, he said.
The president added that with its vast territory, the country could easily reach out to developing countries in Asia, which makes it an indispensable contributor to global poverty eradication efforts.
"All this, I think, makes our participation in G8 discussions absolutely natural," Putin said.
He also highlighted that the country had been posting high economic growth rates lately - the economy has been growing at an average rate of about 6% in the last few years, thanks largely to high energy prices - and said that the financial stability and economic development were significant achievements.
External pressure
The president said the recent positive trends in Russia's development made it strong enough to resist foreign pressure unlike in the early 1990s when the country was on the verge of losing its sovereignty.
"In my opinion, constant criticism of problems with democracy and media freedom is being used as instruments to interfere in Russia's domestic and foreign policy in order to exert influence on the country," Putin told Canadian channel CTV.
The president has been subject to criticism in the West for purportedly stifling democracy and press freedom after state-owned companies gained control of the main television channels in the country.
Human rights activists, public figures and politicians gathered for an alternative two-day event, Another Russia, which opened in Moscow on July 11 only four days before leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Japan meet for the G8 summit.
Asked by CTV whether he believed it was a slap in his face that five G8 countries, including Canada, had sent representatives to the conference, Putin said: "If officials from other countries support such initiatives, then this means they are trying to influence Russia's domestic line-up of political forces." He added that they had the right to do so.
Putin said he did not know very well what kind of alternative summit Another Russia was.
"But I've heard that some of our political opponents inside the country want to use it as a pretext to promote their views on the domestic situation, on our foreign policy," he said, adding that they were doing so in preparation for parliamentary elections in 2007.
The president said some of Russia's partners were still seeking levers of influence. "The desire to manage and orchestrate the situation inside Russia and its foreign policy has remained intact for some of our partners, and a feverish search for such levers and means of influence has now started," Putin said.
The president urged Russia's partners to give a deeper thought to developments in the world and analyze the prospects for 15-25 years ahead rather than until the next presidential elections due in 2008.
Using energy in foreign policy
Putin continued in robust form on the foreign theme, responding to an attack made on his country's energy policy earlier in the year by the U.S. vice president.
In May, Dick Cheney launched a virulent attack on Russia, saying it was using its vast energy sources as a means to blackmail and intimidate its neighbors and Europe. The charges came after energy giant Gazprom briefly cut supplies to Ukraine in early 2006 in a pricing dispute and then threatened to look to eastern markets if its European ambitions were thwarted.
But Putin appeared to dismiss the vice president's remarks in an interview with the U.S. television channel NBC by comparing it to a hunting accident that befell America's second most powerful man.
"I think the vice president's comments were like an unlucky shot while hunting," he said, referring to an accident in February when Cheney shot a 78-year-old hunting companion. "I believe that fears of possible energy blackmail do not look sincere and so are not convincing."
He said that Russia had been a reliable energy supplier for Europe for 40 years and had always honored its commitments. He said that fears over Russia's reliability were unfounded and added that it "would be not bad if our colleagues and partners, including in the United States, knew this."
Putin said that some U.S. officials had assumed the negative position on Russia not because they feared disruption of energy supplies, but because they had their own interests in eastern Europe.
Putin said their position was down to "a desire to support individual political forces in eastern Europe and promote their political interests on the supposition that Russia should pay for the advancement of these interests."
But he said, "I do not believe this position is balanced."
