Why Did Putin Keep the Old Boys in the Government? To Not Lose Two Years Playing Catch-up

– Vladimir Vladimirovich, we have been living with the new government for more than three weeks. By the way, its members have been subject to discussion and debate from the beginning, and the discussions continue even today, from the discussions about the prime minister nominee to the discussions about the old and new ministers. Some say that its continuity and experience are its competitive strengths; others say that it's not the government which is able to make the breakthrough that you spoke about in your address. What do you think?

 

President Putin:  I see these discussions and, in fact, I had no doubt that they would arise. And it's good that we have discussions almost about every issue, about any administrative decision, about decisions in the economic and social spheres. This is as it should be. My point of view is as follows and I think that many will agree with me: you see, the problem is that the development plan, the need for the implementation of which we have been talking about for the past few years, the members of the former government had been preparing it for at least one and a half years.

I know perfectly well that if we were to completely replace 100% of the government and bring in absolutely new people, even if they were competent and well trained, it would have taken a minimum of two years to define either old problems or new ones. We would lose a minimum of two years; we don't have those two years.