Putin Denounces ‘Endless and Groundless’ Campaign Against Russia; Warns It Could Lead to New Cuban Missile Crisis1703

PRESS RELEASE

Putin Denounces ‘Endless and Groundless’ Campaign Against Russia; Warns It Could Lead to New Cuban Missile Crisis

March 31, 2017 (EIRNS)—The charges that the Russian government and Donald Trump somehow conspired to steal the U.S. Presidency from Hillary Clinton are "endless and groundless," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press yesterday, after attending a meeting in the far northern city of Arkhangelesk on "The Arctic—the Territory of Dialogue."

Putin described current relations between Washington and Moscow as "at zero level," and lit into the slander campaign.

"We are seeing what’s going on. They are preventing the new [U.S.] President from fulfilling his campaign promises on many issues: health care, other issues, international relations, ties with Russia. We are waiting for the situation to normalize and become more stable. And we aren’t interfering in any way."

He reiterated: "Read my lips: No."

Putin warned of the extreme danger of this provocative campaign.

"This anti-Russian card is being played in the interests of some political forces inside the U.S., with an aim to strengthen and consolidate their positions. I don’t think it’s in the interests of the majority of the American people to bring U.S.-Russian relations to absurdity for the sake of domestic politics. Do we want to completely cut diplomatic relations? Do we want to bring the situation to what it was in the 1960s during the Cuban [missile] crisis? Where do people behaving in such an irresponsible way want to take us all, including the American people?"

Putin also dismissed the idea that the Arctic could be an area of conflict with the United States.

"Russia sees no potential for conflicts in the Arctic Region.... [We] are not going either to be at war or compete with the U.S. The quicker we establish cooperation in the military sphere, the better."