President Vladimir Putin answered in the negative when asked if he planned to dismiss the government in the near future, according to Russian TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov.
The journalist revealed this fact in an interview with Izvestia daily as he was describing his latest film ‘The President’, to be released on April 26. He said Putin answered all questions in a calm and correct manner, “without a hint of any problems.”
“When I asked him about the government dismissal, he said no,” Solovyov said.
Other questions covered in the almost two-hour interview included the military campaign in Chechnya, relations between Putin and Russian oligarchs and the role of the Russian Federation in the international politics.
In late December last year, Russia’s left-wing opposition, led by the Communist Party, demanded that the president dismiss the cabinet over the rapid devaluation of the national currency and the ‘catastrophic’ budget of 2015.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov suggested that heads of all parliamentary parties should discuss the “cabinet problem” with the president and develop an urgent crisis-reversal plan. He also said in press comments that while some government ministers were performing very well, the spheres they are responsible for could only be described as a complete disaster.
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However, back in December Putin said that both the government and the Central Bank were dealing adequately with the challenges to the economy. He allowed that there were some questions regarding the quality and timing of the actions, but insisted that the general strategy was correct.
Putin emphasized that the current crisis was caused by external factors and noted that he expected things to get back to normal in a maximum of two years.