ANKARA - Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief adviser Sergey Yastrjembski said on Wednesday that a strong and democratic Russia with a market economy would be one of the best neighbors of Turkey and other neighboring countries.
A two-day conference on cooperation in Eurasia started in Ankara with the support of Turkish-Russian Interparliamentary Friendship Group, Turkish Democracy Foundation and Russian-Turkish Research Center.
Addressing the meeting, Yastrjembski said that Russia had had very rapid changes in democratization and liberalization in the last ten years.
Yastrjembski noted that Russia also recorded development in economy in the recent ten years.
Constitutional order had also been ensured in Russia, Yastrjembski stated.
Yastrjembski said that democratization process had reached an unreturnable stage in Russia.
The Russian people had paid serious prices in transition process after the dissolution of former Soviet Union, Yastrjembski pointed out.
Complaining about negative evaluations of the western press about reforms in Russia, Yastrjembski said that they were always open to constructive and objective criticisms.
Yastrjembski said that Russian democracy did not need to copy the U.S. or French democracy and economic reforms in Russia did not need to resemble the reforms in the west.
Upon a question, Yastrjembsi noted that Russia had fulfilled its international obligations about destroying weapons of mass destruction.
(BRC-AÖ) 10.03.2004