MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed hope that incoming US President Joe Biden would present an opportunity for improved relations between their two countries, before attacking Western aggression towards Russia.
Speaking at his annual marathon end-of-year press conference, Putin began by striking a conciliatory tone towards Western countries, with which Russia has seen its relations in recent years reach its lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
He told reporters that US-Russia ties had become “hostage to US domestic politics and said he hoped that some existing problems “will be resolved under the new administration”.
“We believe the US president-elect will sort things out because he has both domestic and foreign policy experience,” Putin said.
Despite being one of the last leaders of major world countries to congratulate the US president-elect, Putin earlier this week said he was ready for collaboration with Biden. But tensions have grown between Russia and the West in recent weeks after the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Navalny, 44, fell violently ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August and was eventually transferred by medical aircraft to a hospital in Berlin.
Experts in several Western countries concluded that the opposition leader had been poisoned by the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok — a claim that Russia has repeatedly denied. This week a joint media report revealed what it said were the names and photos of chemical weapons experts from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) that had tailed Navalny for years. When the topic came up during Thursday’s press conference, Putin’s tone cooled.
He suggested that US special services had planted the report, led by the investigative website Bellingcat and published with CNN, Der Spiegel and Russian outlet The Insider. He also said that Navalny was supported by US special services.—AFP
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