Russian President Vladimir Putin told NBC News that engaging in mutual accusations and insults between Russia and the United States is a “road to nowhere,” reported RBC news agency of Russia.
“Let’s sit down calmly, talk and figure things out,” he noted speaking about normalizing Russian-American relations. “I believe that the current [US] president wants to do that, but there are forces that won’t let him do it.”
In Putin’s view, US President Donald Trump is “a businessman with vast experience” and “a quick study” despite being new to politics.
The Russian president recalled that the US had included Russia among its enemies.
“We are not the ones who labeled you our enemies. You made a decision, at the level of parliament, at the level of Congress and put Russia on your list of enemies,” he said. “Why did you do that? Are we the ones who imposed sanctions on the United States? The U.S. imposed sanctions on us.”
And asked whether he was concerned about Russian citizens attacking US democracy, Putin stressed once again that he had yet to see any evidence that the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election in 2016 had broken Russian law.
