Putin still wants to mend foreign ties despite row

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin still favours mending ties with other countries, despite a decision to expel scores of Western diplomats in a row over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain, a Kremlin spokesman said.

The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he disagreed with the US government's assessment that Russia's decision to expel 60 US diplomats showed Moscow was not interested in diplomacy.