‘I’m no Putin fan, but one must accept facts’: Veteran journo walks out of Al-Jazeera panel (VIDEO)
RT,
25
February, 2018
Vladimir
Pozner, one of Russia’s most-respected journalists, walked out of
an Al Jazeera panel on the upcoming Russian election after it became
clear that it would only be “an ideological debate” void of real
analysis.
The
Friday installment of Mehdi Hasan’s UpFront program on Al Jazeera
English was devoted to Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US
election and the upcoming election in Russia, which incumbent
President Vladimir Putin is predicted to win, according to polls.
Russians vote for their next president in March. Will Putin win his fourth term? In the Arena to debate: @albats, @vkaramurza and Vladimir Pozner.
Full debate: bit.ly/2CfKEmy
The
second part featured a 15-minute panel of experts, including Pozner,
fellow journalist Evgenia Albats, and political activist Vladimir
Kara-Murza. Albats and Kara-Murza, both outspoken opposition figures
in Russia, took turns dismissing the upcoming vote as “not a real
election,” after which came Pozner’s turn to speak, which he used
to graciously bow out.
“When
I was asked to participate in this program, I said I was not
interested in getting into a debate. I am not a debater, I am a
journalist. I am not opposition… I am not a big fan of Putin’s,
but I like to try to be objective,” he said.
“People
do go to the poll and they do vote. And for whatever reasons, Putin
has a very high percentage of support. And it’s not because people
are stupid. I say again, I am not a Putin supporter, but either you
have to see things the way they are or you describe them the way you
want them to be or want people to believe them to be,” Pozner
said.
“What
I am going to do is to let the two people talk and agree with each
other on all the negative things they are going to say and I will do
some other stuff that is much more interesting for me,” he
added, explaining that he did not care to participate in “an
ideological debate.”
As
Pozner was leaving, Kara-Murza implied that he was a secret Putin
supporter who was running away from honest debate, while Albats
remarked that Russia’s Channel One, which she called part of a
state propaganda machine, has an interview program hosted by Pozner.
The discussion then drifted on to the perils of being an opposition
figure in Russia and whether or not Putin will step down after his
next term ends.
Explaining
the move later on his webpage,
Pozner said he was misled into thinking the program would be an
honest attempt to show foreign viewers the complex situation with
elections in Russia. He said the program was initially supposed to
give airtime to other experts in addition to Pozner, and that he
expressed concerns about the format after learning about the
substitutions.
“I
stressed that I would not take part in political debates, first,
because I do not seek to argue with either Evgenia Albats or Vladimir
Kara-Murza, and second, because the [Al Jazeera] audience knows
absolutely nothing about Russia and will not understand anything,
ultimately deciding that whoever speaks ‘smoother’ must be right.
I was assured there would be no debate,” he
said.
The
Russian presidential election is scheduled for March 18. The term of
office is six years and no president can have more than two terms in
a row, which means that if Putin wins, he will not be able to seek
re-election in 2024.
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