Echoing President Trump’s assessment, Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday described their Helsinki summit as a success – and slammed “forces” in the US of undermining progress they made on several fronts.
Putin told Russian diplomats that US-Russian relations are “in some ways worse than during the Cold War” but that his Monday summit with Trump allowed them to start on “the path to positive change.”
“We will see how things develop further,” the strongman added in his first comments about the summit, expressing worries about unnamed US “forces” trying to prevent better ties and “putting narrow party interests above the national interest.”
His reaction came as Trump fired off a series of tweets Thursday in which he slammed the “Fake News Media” for their “total fiction” reports – and accused the mainstream press of hoping for a confrontation between the two countries.
Trump also again described the Helsinki summit as a “great success.”
Putin said in a speech to Russian ambassadors gathered in Moscow that “it’s naive to think that the problems would be solved in a few hours. But no one expected that.”
He added that Russia is “nevertheless open to developing contacts with the US on the basis of equality.”
“We need a new positive agenda, aimed at working together and finding common ground,” he said. “We talked about this of course while meeting President Trump.”
Putin’s comments come as Trump still faces condemnation on both sides of the political aisle after his fawning press conference in Helsinki with the Russian leader.
Trump appeared to accept Putin’s denial of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, sparking uproar in Washington.
Amid the backlash, the president later said he misspoke when he cited Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial of Russian meddling – despite the conclusions by US intelligence services..
“I thought it would be obvious but I would like to clarify just in case it wasn’t. In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’,” a back-pedaling Trump told reporters.
“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia.'”
On Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the US intelligence community stands by its view that Russia meddled in the US election.
In a possible dig at Trump’s erratic presidency, Putin touted Russia’s “consistent, responsible, independent foreign policy.”
While he praised Trump’s mediation efforts in North Korea, Putin slammed his decision to pull out of the international accord curbing Iran’s nuclear activities.
He also lashed out at Europe and US-dominated NATO, saying – without elaboration – that Russia would hit back with an “equivalent response” to NATO bases near Russia’s borders and other “aggressive steps.”
Meanwhile, Russian politicians are angry at proposals by US lawmakers to question Trump’s translator about what the men discussed privately before their news conference.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the upper house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the idea sets a dangerous precedent that threats the “the whole idea of diplomacy,” according to Russian news agencies.
Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, also expressed hope Thursday that “the verbal agreements between Putin and Trump will be fulfilled,” NBC News reported.
Among the issues the two leaders discussed were limiting their countries’ nuclear arsenals and ending the Syrian war, according to reports.
With Post wires
