July
08, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
-
The Donald Trump seen on television is
different from the one in real life, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said at the G20
summit, adding that after his meeting with
the US leader in Hamburg, he felt like
relations between the two countries could at
least partially be restored.
“As for personal relations, I think that
they are established,” Putin said of
his Friday meeting with Trump.
“I
think that if we continue building our
relations like during our conversation
yesterday, there are grounds to believe that
we’ll be able to – at least partially –
restore the level of cooperation that we
need,” Putin said.
Putin
said that the issue of alleged Russian meddling
in the US election was addressed by Trump during
their conversation.
Putin
reiterated that there is no reason to believe
that Russia meddled in the US electoral process
in 2016.
“He
[Trump] asked many questions on that subject. I
answered those questions as best I could. I
think he took it into consideration and agreed
with me, but you should really ask him how he
feels about it,” the Russian president
said.
Regarding cybersecurity, the Russian leader said
that he and Trump “agreed that there should
never be a situation of uncertainty, especially
in the future, in this sphere.”
“The
US president and I agreed that we’ll create a
working group and work together on how to
jointly monitor security in cyberspace, how to
ensure unconditional compliance with
international legal norms, and how to prevent
interference in internal affairs of foreign
countries,” Putin said.
“If
we manage to organize this work – and I have no
reasons to doubt that – then there will be no
more speculation on this topic [of Russia
meddling],” he added.
Speaking on the allegations of Moscow’s
interference in the affairs of foreign
countries, Putin blamed the foreign media for
doing exactly that in Russia.
“If you analyze the German,
French and European media, in general – they’re
the ones who are constantly meddling in our
internal affairs. But we feel confident and it
doesn’t bother us,”
he explained.
The
situation in Syria was also addressed during the
press conference, with Putin saying the new US
administration had a “more pragmatic” stance on
the issue.
“I
think the [US] position became more pragmatic.
It doesn’t seem to have changed drastically
[compared to the Obama administration], but
there’s an understanding that we can achieve a
lot by joining forces,” he said.
This
approach by Washington made possible the
agreement on the southern de-escalation zone in
Syria, which was “one of the breakthroughs”
during Friday’s talks with Trump, the Russian
president added.
Putin
stressed the importance of the de-escalation
zones for maintaining the territorial integrity
of the Syrian state after the conflict.
The
de-escalations zones “should become a
prototype of such territories, which would be
able to cooperate with each other and with the
official [government in] Damascus,” he
explained.
The
Russian president addressed comments by US
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other
Washington officials, who insisted that the
Syrian conflict would be not be solved while
President Bashar Assad remains in power.
“Mr
Tillerson is a very respected person and the
bearer of a Russian order. He has been decorated
with the Order of Friendship. We love and
respect him. But he’s not a Syrian citizen,
after all, and the future of Syria and the
political future of President Assad should only
be determined by the Syrian people,” he
said.
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