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Putin slams ‘pathetic’ US forces ready to sacrifice Russia ties
MOSCOW, July 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Thursday slammed the US opposition to Donald Trump as “pathetic, worthless
people” who were willing to sacrifice Russian-US ties to their own ambitions.
Putin made the comments in a speech to Russian diplomats in Moscow after
holding a summit in Helsinki with Trump that has ignited a political
firestorm in the United States.
In a toughly-worded speech, Putin said US-Russia ties were by “some
parameters” worse than during the Cold War and took aim at the US
establishment.
“We see that there are forces in the US that are easily ready to sacrifice
Russian-American relations for their own ambitions,” Putin said.
“We see that there are forces in the US that put their narrow party
interests higher than national ones,” he added, describing them as “pathetic,
worthless people,” a well-known quote from Soviet satirists Ilya Ilf and
Yevgeny Petrov.
Yet he added that these forces are “on the contrary rather powerful and
strong if they are able to sell — forgive me my bad manners — to their
citizens, millions of their citizens, various illogical things that are hard
to digest.”
Going into Monday’s meeting in Helsinki, Trump said he wanted to improve
relations with Russia, which he characterized as the worst they have ever
been.
But he stunned both allies and enemies, who criticised him for taking the
Russian leader’s word over that of US intelligence that Moscow did not
interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.
Many accused Trump of being a “traitor,” saying his performance in
Helsinki only deepened rumours that the Kremlin may have compromising
information on him and sparked talk of new sanctions against Russia.
– ‘New positive agenda’ –
In Moscow on Thursday, Putin said Russia was still open to building a good
relationship with the United States.
“We need a new positive agenda, aimed at working together and finding
common ground,” he said, adding it would take time to see a genuine
improvement in ties.
“It would be naive to think that problems that have been accumulating for
years would be solved in a matter of hours.”
Under pressure at home, the US leader’s position on Russian interference
has shifted repeatedly in recent days.
Strikingly, Trump said he misspoke when he appeared to take Putin’s denial
of interference at face value and said he accepts Moscow sought to influence
the 2016 vote.
He offered a twisted explanation of his assertion in Helsinki that he
could not see “any reason” why Russia would interfere.
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of
‘wouldn’t’,” Trump said.
“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be
Russia.’ Sort of a double negative,” he added.
He also said he accepted the view of US intelliegence that Moscow had in
fact meddled but he continued to raise doubts, saying there “could be other
people also; there’s a lot of people out there.”
Democratic lawmakers even pushed for Congress to subpoena Trump’s summit
interpreter to find out what transpired during his private meeting with
Putin.
Even some in Trump’s party signalled they had had enough of his wrecking
ball diplomacy and sought to take steps to box him in.
– Montenegro defends itself –
On Wednesday, Trump drew fresh scorn for questioning NATO’s core “one for
all and all for one” principle in attacking “tiny” Montenegro, whose
accession to the alliance enraged Moscow.
“Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,” Trump said in an
interview with Fox News. “They’re very aggressive people. They may get
aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War III.”
On Thursday, Montenegro’s government defended its contribution to peace in
response, saying the country “contributes to peace and stability not only on
the European continent but worldwide, along with US soldiers in Afghanistan.”
It also added that it has served as a “stabilising” force in the region,
which was ravaged by wars during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the
1990s.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1955HRS