Vladimir Putin warns there are ‘forces’ trying to disrupt US-Russia relations
The Russian leader praised Trump’s mediation efforts in North Korea, but slammed his decision to pull out of the international accord curbing Iran’s nuclear activities
In his first public comments about the summit, Putin told Russian diplomats that US-Russian relations are “in some ways worse than during the cold war,” but that his meeting with Trump on Monday allowed them to start on “the path to positive change”.
“It’s naive to think that the problems would be solved in a few hours. But no one expected that,” Putin said.
“We will see how things develop further,” Putin said, evoking unnamed “forces” in the US trying to prevent any improvement in relations and “putting narrow party interests above the national interest.”
Putin faces no serious political opposition at home, and leads a country that has never experienced a democratic transfer of power.
Trump, by contrast, has come under widespread domestic criticism about the meeting both from Democratic opponents and senior Republicans. Trump notably flip-flopped repeatedly over what exactly he said to Putin at the summit, and whether he believes that Russia meddled in the 2016 election campaign on Trump’s behalf.
It’s naive to think that the problems would be solved in a few hours. But no one expected that
Trump tweeted on Thursday that his critics in the media “are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin”.