FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
President Putin Reveals His Insights on President Trump to NBC’s Megyn Kelly
March 10, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin made several interesting comments on President Donald Trump and U.S.-Russian relations in his exclusive March 1-2 interview with NBC News’s Megyn Kelly, that was broadcast on as “Confronting Putin,” on March 9.
“Despite the fact that he is a first-time President, he is a quick study and he understands very well that this level, where we are, engaging in mutual accusations, this is a road to nowhere,”
he said.
Putin replied to a question whether Trump was an effective leader:
“He clearly has leadership qualities. They are clearly present because he takes responsibility for making decisions.... This is undoubtedly a sign of having leadership qualities.”
As for claims that Trump treats him with reverence, Putin replied,
“I don’t think he treats me personally with reverence. I believe that he is an experienced person. He’s a businessman with vast experience. And he understands that if it is necessary to establish a cooperative relationship with someone then you have to treat your current or potential partner with respect. Otherwise nothing will come of it. I think this is a purely pragmatic approach.”
Asked if he ever reads Trump’s tweets, Putin replied, “No,” and said he never uses Twitter because he has “other ways of expressing my point of view or implementing a decision. Donald is a more modern individual.”
Denying repeatedly that he gave orders to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election (Kelly ignored his denials, asking over and over again why he “meddled” in the U.S. election), Putin stated, “No, we don’t encourage them and we don’t order them.”
Referring to the individuals who were indicted by Mueller, he said, “You tell me they are Russians. So what? Maybe, being Russian, they were working for some kind of an American company,” Putin said.
On the anti-Russia sanctions, Putin countered,
“Listen, sanctions have nothing to do with the myth of some Russian interference in the U.S. election. Sanctions are about something else entirely: The desire to halt Russia’s progress, to contain Russia. This policy of containing Russia has been pursued for decades, on and off. Now it is back. It is a misguided policy, which not only affects Russian-U.S. relations but also U.S. businesses because it frees up space for their competitors on our market.
“I think it is impossible to contain Russia anywhere. You need to understand this. Listen, you cannot even contain North Korea.”
As for Russia being contained by cyber-warfare, Putin retorted,
“What are you talking about? Why would you do that? Why do we have to contain, attack or cast suspicion on each other? We are offering cooperation.”
