TASS first deputy director general presents new book from "Formula of Power" series

MOSCOW, April 11 /TASS/. "The Formula of Power… and Another 65 Interviews", a new book by Mikhail Gusman, TASS First Deputy Director General, was presented at the Russian Foreign Ministry mansion on Moscow’s Spiridonovka Street on Friday. The presentation ceremony was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov; Anatoly Torkunov, the rector of the Russian Foreign Ministry Institute of International Relations /MGIMO/; Russian and foreign diplomats, cultural workers and politicians. "This project really helps, actively and unobtrusively, to show the Russian stance, genuine Russia and our propensity to honest cooperation with all states, "Lavrov said noting that the Formula of Power project will mark its 15th anniversary this autumn. "There are still countries around the globe that have not been covered by this project. They include more than 20 UN member states and if countries that are not UN members so far are also taken into account, then I am convinced that even a fourth volume will not be enough," the Russian foreign minister said jokingly. "This project is very good for TASS. It is very much respected," TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov said in turn. "It helps TASS to open doors to oval, square, cubic and other offices around the globe and then receive news from them in order to be the very first and most accurate," the TASS director general said. "The books are the manuscripts of an era because when we start re-reading the first and second volumes, we see how these interviews reflect the peculiarities and specific features of a certain period," MGIMO’s Rector Anatoly Torkunov said. He noted that no one had ever managed to take so many interview as Mikhail Gusman had. "Mr. Gusman interviewed even royalties who generally never give interviews. Apparently, it’s a skill to negotiate, an ability to be liked and make people trust you," Torkunov said. In his speech at the presentation ceremony, German Ambassador to Russia Rudiger Von Fritsch noted that the book mentioned three representatives of Germany - Pope Benedict XVI, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Chancellor Angela Merkel. US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft remembered how Mr. Gusman had taken his famous 2001 interview with President George W. Bush in the White House’s map room. "They talked, as I understood, in the map room of the White House and on a wall in that room was a great 1945 map with allied forces in WWII /Great Patriotic War/ moving from the East into the West against Nazi Germany," the ambassador said. "That map reminds us that the United States and the Soviet Union were once great allies and we fought together to defeat the common enemy," Tefft emphasized. "The Formula of Power… and Another 65 Interviews "is a third volume in the "Formula of Power" series. It comprises 65 interviews which Mikhail Gusman took from world leaders from 2010 to 2014 including interviews with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Japanese Prime Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Queen Margaret II of Denmark and many others. "There are not so many of them, the leaders of the 21st century, which has fully entered into its rights. But each of them has a big or small country with its unique people behind them," Gusman said. "For me it is important that all these people without exception showed respect and affection for Russia and said kind and warm words about our country. Perhaps, it’s the most important result of our work," Gusman said in conclusion. Read more