BBG Watch
ALSO SEE: VOA News ignored Senator Corker on Putin corruption, BBG Watch, February 2, 2016
BBG WATCH EXCLUSIVE: SENATOR CORKER PUTIN CORRUPTION VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT BASED ON VOA INTERVIEW
BBG WATCH TRANSCRIPT OF VOA INTERVIEW – SEN. CORKER ON PUTIN CORRUPTION
MICHAEL BOWMAN, VOA NEWS: Very quickly, the final question, but I ask.
The U.S. Treasury has designated Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, as corrupt. I wanted to ask you for your thoughts on that. Is it a designation that’s overdue?
SENATOR BOB CORKER, CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: You know, it’s interesting. I was also, I was at another meeting on Saturday, and what’s fascinating is that the Russian people are beginning to see, I think, that this may be the first time in modern times, that the Russian people are beginning to realize that they have a leader that has amassed tremendous personal wealth.And I think that is going to create some additional instability in Russia.
How a person, who is a former KGB person, can come into government and amass the wealth that he has, have these lavish weddings for all to see for his children, I mean, I think, again it’s going to be something that as more and more Russians understand that while he’s been in office he’s amassed what I understand to be billions of dollars of personal wealth. You cannot do that through just normal government operations. It has to be done through corruption. And I think that over time it’s going to be destabilizing for his regime as people find out more and more about it.
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