Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2015.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he welcomed comments by USA presidential candidate Donald Trump that he wanted deeper relations with Russia.
Asked about the prospect of a new U.S. president during the three-hour news conference, Putin, whose relationship with Barack Obama is strained at best, said “we first have to understand who it is going to be”.
Interfax news wire reports the remarks came after Putin’s annual press conference on Thursday.
Putin also said he broadly backs a US plan to prepare a United Nations resolution on Syria – but that Moscow isn’t ready yet to withdraw its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Referring to the Turkey’s downing of a Russian SU-24 fighter bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24, he said: “If someone in the Turkish leadership chose to lick the Americans in a particular place I don’t know whether they acted correctly or not and I don’t know… whether the Americans needed that”. “And I’m sure that Obama doesn’t like him very much”, Trump said.
“If someone in Turkey made a decision to kiss Americans on a certain body part, I don’t know whether it was right or not”, Putin said. President Vladimir Putin said today Russian Federation was prepared to face any economic situation as the country’s energy-dependent economy reels from lower oil prices.
“We do see and register the presence of militants in Turkey and among them, for instance, are those from [Russia’s] North Caucasus”, Putin said.
Putin said that Trump’s comments to his domestic audience while on the campaign trail were not Russia’s concern, but added that he likes the Republican hopeful’s statements on Russian Federation.
“As for his internal political issues and his turns of speech which he uses to raise his popularity, I repeat, it’s not our job to judge them”, Putin said. Putin said that Blatter, who stepped down amid allegations of financial misconduct under his administration, deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for his “colossal” humanitarian contribution.
Turning to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Putin said Russian Federation was interested in seeing the conflict settled as quickly as possible. Moscow has said that the crash that killed all 224 people on board was caused by a bomb. “But that doesn’t mean we have deployed regular troops there”.
Mr Putin, a former Soviet KGB officer, has ruled Russian Federation as either president or prime minister for 16 years. Maybe they thought that we would run away from there [Syria]?
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Putin noted that he felt improved Russian living standards and Russia’s military capabilities were major results, before saying it was necessary to investigate further any accusations of corruption. During Tuesday’s Republican debate in Las Vegas, Ohio Governor John Kasich showed “exemplary” diplomatic language by saying: “Frankly, it’s time that we punched Russian Federation in the nose”.
