Putin: Relations with US ‘At a Pretty Low Level,’ And That’s a Choice the US Made
(CNSNews.com) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that relations between his country and the United States were “at a pretty low level,” and he blamed the U.S. for the deterioration.
Speaking to Russian reporters after meeting with President Obama on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session, Putin said Russia was always ready to improve the relationship.
“Relations between Russia and the United States unfortunately are at a pretty low level – it’s very obvious even without my comments,” he said in response to a question from the RIA Novosti state news agency. “But it was not our initiative to lower the level of our relations to such an extent.”
“That is the position taken by our American partners. Is it good or bad? I think it’s bad –for our bilateral relations and for the global situation. But it’s a choice that the United States made. We are always ready to recover – restore our relations.”
Nonetheless, Putin said that his meeting with Obama – which lasted twice as long as had been anticipated – had been very useful.
“I particularly liked the fact that it was very frank,” he said.
They discussed the situation in Ukraine, in Syria and in the Middle East in general, he said.
“Surprisingly, we share a lot of opinions and viewpoints in common. Of course there are also differences and we’ve agreed to work together on them.”
One such area of deep difference relates to the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
A reporter noted that, in their speeches at the U.N. on Monday, both Obama and French President Francois Hollande had stressed that there was no future for Assad as leader.
Putin said while he respected Obama and Hollande, “I don’t think they’re Syrian citizens, so I don’t think they should be involved in deciding the future of another country’s leadership. It’s up to the Syrian people themselves to decide that.”
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