By Gabe Chang and Toh Yu Qi
Press: What are the main reasons for taking a peaceful approach against protestors in the end?
Ivan Yakolev (Chief of Police, Satellite States):
We took that approach because we wanted to give our people what they wanted. In fact, we are a communist nation that stands for its people, not against its people and our people are only in the mainland USSR. Our people are the people from Moscow, therefore we give them what they want. Our people have the right to choose, as said by glorious leader Mikhail Gorbachev and therefore we took this approach.
Press: How do you feel about the recent oil trade events in which updates announced that international oil prices are now relatively stable?
Andrei Gromyko (Chairman of the Presidium):
Myself and my vice have been actively engaged in trying to solve this oil crisis. One of the most significant things we have done was to attend a convoy of delegation to the Saudi Arabia Petroleum Agreement. To which, we have sought to strike an agreement with regards to oil pricing which resulted in the stabilisation of the current international oil price.
Press: It has been clear that the Presidium’s directives have been not showing expected outcomes recently. What do you feel should be done to improve the reliability of your committee’s actions?
Andrei Gromyko (Chairman of the Presidium):
That question is a rather excellent one regarding what has unfolded, especially with all the negative side backs we have faced as an entire council. I believe most of it can be attributed to what we call an act of god but I believe on our part we can play a more direct role in improving the outcomes of the negative setbacks, including contributing to a more comprehensive model and framework of our directives as well as each of us plays an important role in all council directives we send in.
Press: It is seen that there is a rising fear of corruption and tax legislations amongst citizens. What do you feel can be done to tackle corruption and assure the citizens besides the recent anti-corruption council directive?
Yegor Ligachyov (Second Secretary of the CPSU):
I think there are numerous ways you tackle corruption. I think that most importantly we should also be embarking on education programmes and starting to grow the youth from young, that corruption is a bad problem and they cannot perpetuate the cycle of corruption. After all, I do think that for one, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is of paramount importance in this fight against corruption because we need to stamp out corruption within the upper levels of the government before we move on as a nation.
Press: Why did the committee not take action against corruption earlier as it is the main hindrance to the growth of the economy?
Vladimir Orlov (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR):
I don't think it was that the committee didn’t recognise the importance of stopping corruption but there were other more pressing issues at that time that needed to be dealt with in a more efficient and fast manner. For example, the Chernobyl crisis was an extremely big issue that we needed to deal with and because we were quite brought down by our resources and manpower. We didn’t really have time to tackle corruption until later on after we solved the Chernobyl crisis. So, yeah I think that was the main reason. It was just that we were doing other things. We couldn’t tackle the issue of corruption at the same time.
Conclusion
It is evident that the members of the Presidium have been trying hard to put together the pieces of the puzzles to build a better USSR. However, it seems that luck is not on their side as many directives end up being delayed or are passed with unexpected consequences.
However, rest assured that the Presidium will preserve and strive to strengthen the might of the USSR on the world stage.