NEW YORK, June 13. /TASS/. The problems that Russia faced at the beginning of this century cannot be compared with the problems that one of the most famous presidents in the history of the United States - Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) had to deal with, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with American director Oliver Stone in his film The Putin Interviews.
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Putin said Reagan "is a happy man, very well organized, and, no doubt, that was a great achievement of his."
Talking to Stone about Reagan delegating authority to other people, Putin said "You need to address two issues. You have to find the right people and then you have to delegate authority to them. I understand it and it is something I aspire to do. But there is a great difference between us. Ronald Reagan was the Head of the United States. And be that as it may, his difficulties in the US were not compatible to those we faced in Russia at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of 2000."
"Almost being broke and actually being broke are two entirely different things," Putin said about the countries’ different situations.