the german, helmut kohl, had a marvelous interpreter... >> guest: mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> guest: ...that--that did exactly that... (unintelligible). c-span: did he speak any english at all? >> guest: a couple of words--i mean, again, like 'auf wiedersehen.' >> guest: probably less than anybody, i think. >> guest: yeah. >> guest: ... (unintelligible). c-span: here we are with a photograph of you on the--on the left there and helmut kohl in the middle at camp david. talk about ta--camp david and what that did for your personal diplomacy. >> guest: well, camp david was invaluable, in my view, for a couple of reasons, one, in terms of a president's family getting away and relaxing. and--and, you know, i said when i came in i'm not gonna cla--talk about the burdens of the office, the loneliness of the job. well, i didn't. and camp david was--had i been so inclined, would've been a great antidote to that because it's just totally relaxing. i found that you could bring people up there, important visitors with important agenda items, and because of the ambience, because

economic depression and world war two and was elected four times because his policies were effective helmut kohl spent sixteen years in power in west germany he wasn't president but his post was actually the most important executive job in the country in this ng goes for one of the former canadian prime ministers look at post-war france where a president could have been elected for seven years without a limit on the number of terms it was just recently that france introduced amendments into its constitution and cut it down to no more than two five year terms very similar to what we have in russia what does that mean when a country is facing difficult and hard times when it's recovering from a crisis and getting back on its feet it's these pillars of stability including in politics that play a vital role as regards my return nothing is decided until the people have voted it is one thing when i hear some people say that they would like to see that happen or when people. certain regions suggest something but it is a different thing when the whole country goes to the polls and we need our people to

but the exact number of terms of years in power do not really matter helmut kohl spent sixteen years in power in west germany he wasn't president but his post was actually the most important executive job in the country and the same goes for one of the former canadian prime ministers another look at past war france our president could have been elected for seven years without a limit on the number of terms it was just recently that france introduced amendments into its constitution and cut it down to no more than two five year terms very similar to what we have in russia you know what does that mean when a country is facing difficult and hard times when it's not recovering from a crisis and getting back on its feet these pillars of stability including in politics and the play of vital role there anyway actually. mr putin you talk a lot about stability stability has its negative side story as it sometimes results in a nationwide stagnation how do you feel about the lack of staff rotation in the government some ministers have not only devious results over their terms in office they cou