Nailya Asker-Zade will talk on other topics from Davos.
"Trump, you aren't welcome here". Just a 60-meter poster and seven brave souls expressed the attitude of Europeans very vividly. The American leader, who was the last to arrive in Davos, might have read this appeal. It was for the first time in 18 years that the American leader had appeared in Davos. His speech is scheduled for tomorrow, and today, he’ll hold bilateral meetings.
Unlike Trump, members of the previous administration came to Davos in the early days. Former Secretary of State Kerry, one of the co-authors of anti-Russian sanctions, appeared to have completely forgotten about them in the interview with our TV channel.
- Mr. Kerry, do you feel guilty for the current state of Russian-American relations?
- No, I’d like to see the relationship improving. I think it’d be better if it happened.
- When will this happen?
- It’s impossible to predict. I don’t know.
- Do you think relations should deteriorate before the improvement begins?
- I don’t want to make any guesses.
Meanwhile, in Davos, Americans preferred to avoid Russians. And this isn’t a guess, but a fact.
Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia: "It's not Russia that’s hiding from the dialogue, Russia isn’t closed. It’s the Americans who’re hiding from us in Davos. The village is small, but they don’t want to talk. They’re hiding from real discussions".
And the richest man in China not only doesn’t hide from Russians but has been working in our market for several years.
- Mr. Ma, do you think Russia is toxic?
- Toxic?
- Yes.
- What does it mean, toxic?
- This is an American word.
- What does it mean?
- The fact that Russia causes damage to the US and the world community.
- I don’t think so.
Donald Trump settled on the top floor of this hotel. During the departure of the American president, the security is so strong that other guests and delegates to the forum are forbidden to leave the building. Trump’s trying to establish the same strict rules in international trade.
It’s clear that Europeans don’t like it. First of all, Germany. Angela Merkel started an absentia discussion with Trump, stating that the protectionism policy is unacceptable. Trump answered her and all of Europe.
Donald Trump: "As the US President, I’ll always put America first, as leaders of other countries should do with their countries' interests, but this doesn’t mean that the US will work alone".
His speech was more like a speech not by a president, but by a head of a large world corporation. To listen to him, people began to line up two hours prior, while in the US, Hollywood stars plan to boycott Trump's speech before the Congress. There wasn’t a word about Russia in the speech, considering the new sanctions. A new package of restrictive measures was published when Trump flew home from Switzerland, and the Kremlin Report is expected on Monday.
Andrei Kostin, CEO of VTB Bank: "I think that this is actually a full-scale economic war against Russia, it's not just some kind of trade restrictions, which are called trade wars, it's a large-scale campaign aimed at strangling our economy. If the relations are in extremely bad condition, the state often lowers the level of representation from the ambassador, say, to a temporary representative. In this context, I believe that there’s nothing to do for the ambassador here, except for swimming in our ice hole, if the US position is aimed at destroying our relations. I think if sanctions get tougher and expand, the American ambassador might start looking for other cold water for swimming".
Jean-Pierre Thomas, CEO of Thomas Vendome Investment: "It's time to stop this comedy because this atmosphere of a new cold war is unacceptable. Europe has to act again and say no to sanctions. The truth will come in six months when Europe decides whether to extend sanctions or not. We must know that as soon as one country doesn’t raise its hand for the extension of sanctions, Europe will stop them".
And now, the main question is who won’t hesitate. Meanwhile, the West is suffering huge losses, 100 billion euros already.
- When do you expect improvement in the relations with Russia?
Ukrainian president Poroshenko might've been the one waiting for Trump in Davos most of all. But for him, there was no time in the schedule or even a seat in the hall where the American leader spoke. Although even a regular handshake could have shown a powerful support in the fight against Russian aggression and propaganda.
- Pyotr Alekseevich, the law on Donbass is a law on war. Why are you worsening the situation?
- Goodbye, go, go. Thank you.
- Why are you worsening the situation? Mr. Poroshenko, answer, please. It's just a question.
- If she isn't Ukrainian, I won't talk.
- You perfectly understand Russian.
- We do.
The story with the vyshyvanka, which Poroshenko supposedly saw, went viral in the Ukrainian media. A journalist with a microphone without any identification signs called out a question to Poroshenko: "Why did you adopt the law on war?" She most likely meant the Donbass reintegration law. Poroshenko laughed at the journals wearing the embroidered shirt and advised her to take it off.
"A Russian propagandist wore a vyshyvanka. In Davos, Poroshenko was provoked by the law on war".
"Take the vyshyvanka off! A Russian journalist tried to provoke Poroshenko in Davos".
"A Russian media representative, who wore a vyshyvanka and provoked Poroshenko, was banned".
The Davos vyshyvanka is a regular black dress with flowers made by non-Ukrainian designers. The Ukrainian mass media created another fake story, against which Poroshenko was speaking in Davos and which terribly irritates Trump.
Richard Quest, host of CNN:
- "Fake news" became a charming phrase that the presidential administration decided to use when talking about news that it doesn’t like.
- Is there any censorship in the American media?
- Nobody stands behind me and whispers, ”You can’t talk about this or you have to say that." It doesn’t work like this."
- Are there any instructions?
- No.
Zeinab Badawi, host of BBC:
- 30 years ago, I was fluent in Russia. But now I really don't remember anything.
- Do you think that fake news became a reflection of modern politics?
- I think that now everyone began to realize that they exist and are harmful in many respects.
At the Ukrainian breakfast, Poroshenko talked about investors who were awaiting a meeting with him in Davos, although he came here hoping to get another 2 billion from creditors, while Kiev isn’t planning to pay its debts to Moscow.
- How are you?
- I'm fine, thank you.
- When, as you think, will Ukraine repay Russia?
The IMF head Christine Lagarde, the key creditor of Ukraine, spoke about the need for reforms. However, Kiev believes that they’re already happening.
However, these reforms confused the world's most advanced robot, Sophia, which is the most modern in the world and was presented at the Sberbank breakfast. The machine couldn’t answer a simple question: how to defeat corruption in Ukraine? And what’s the future of Russia?
Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank:
- The downtrend will continue throughout the year. Inflation is sure to slow down in the beginning of the year. We're witnessing a record inflation decline in January. Consequently, the rates of the Central Bank, bank rates will be lowered.
- If we talk about the dynamics of the ruble, what could it be this year?
- If the oil price is between $60 and $70 per barrel, I don’t think that the deviation of the ruble will be more than 2-3 rubles during the year.
- What will happen to our economy this year? Which sectors will show the greatest growth?
Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister: "We think that growth, like last year, should go to people's wallets. It’s the most important thing. Salaries began to grow slowly. Of course, it’s still far from what we’d like them to be".
Although today, our economy is growing not as fast as we’d like, 3% in the next few years is quite real.
Ivan Glazenberg, CEO of Glencore:
- As raw materials prices are quite stable, we’re exporting a large amount of raw materials from Russia and will continue to do so in the future.
- Is the Russian market promising?
- Yes, it’s promising at higher raw material prices. Now, we see a good level, so we can continue earning in Russia.
Today, investors' preferences often depend on fluctuations in commodity markets, but the increased interest in Russian culture in Davos is a constant.
Nailya Asker-Zade, Natalya Konyukhova, Viktor Vinogradov, Vadim Klevanov, Vesti News of the Week, Davos, Switzerland
