“We are ready and wish to develop our relations with the United States, and the latest visit of the U.S. Secretary of State (John Kerry) showed that the U.S. side is ready to somehow move toward jointly solving issues that can only be solved jointly”, Putin said at his annual year-end press conference. “But he is an absolute leader of the presidential race”. How couldn’t we welcome that?
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He went on to say: “It’s not up to us to judge his virtue, that is up to U.S. voters”.
Ahead of worldwide talks on the Syrian crisis in NY on Friday, Mr Putin said Moscow’s plan to resolve it “broadly coincides” with that of Washington.
While most Republican presidential contenders have demonized the Russian president – including calling him a “gangster” and a “thug” – and pushed plans to isolate Russia on the world stage, Trump has instead touted his ability to improve Washington-Moscow relations by working with the iron-fisted Russian leader. “This (large-scale privatisations) is possible, and in principle we will continue this work”, Mr Putin said, adding he strived not to get involved in such decisions.
Mr Putin also took the opportunity to unleash a furious tirade against Turkey using vulgar language to wonder aloud whether it had shot down a Russian warplane last month to curry favour with the US.
Amid the adoration, there were outbreaks of journalism, with Putin facing tough questions on Russian troops in Ukraine, corruption in the elite and whether Katerina Tikhonova, an “acrobatic rock and roll” dancer who now runs a huge project linked to Moscow State University, is his daughter.
“I think that we are very different”, Trump said of Putin, adding, “I think that I would at the same time get along very well with him”. But he had no such charitable words for Tur-key and made clear he was in no mood to forgive Ankara for shooting down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border on November 24.
During the news conference, Putin denied once again that regular Russian forces were in Ukraine, where pro-Moscow rebels began clashes with the Western-backed government in 2014.
“That would be unsafe”, Putin said.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday lashed out at Turkey for the downing, saying that it is now “practically impossible” to overcome tensions with Turkey. “But we believe this practice, when in various parts of the world they snatch foreign citizens and drag them out to be interrogated and prosecuted, is unacceptable”. “Get a sense of that distinction”, he said. One regional reporter who had a question about farming could not resist a fawning introduction: “The thing is, as a woman I can’t help but compliment our president on the fact you are in such good sporty shape”, she gushed. However he directed criticism at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, accusing it of “licking the Americans in one place”.
Unfortunately, other diplomats say that even if Assad can be forced into retirement, a price of his removal might be letting him slink away to Russian Federation or Iran rather than face justice at the International Criminal Court.
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At the press conference that lasted more than three hours and was televised live, the president dismissed concerns that operations in Syria might be a heavy burden for Russia’s budget. “The Russian economy has passed the crisis – at least the peak of the crisis”, he stated.
