Putin Links U.S. Disturbances to Campaign To ‘Cast Doubt on Trump’s Legitimacy’

June 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—In an interview on state TV, Rossiya-1 with Pavel Zarubin, excerpts of which Zarubin posted on his Instagram page today, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked if he thought that recent developments in the United States reflect a “deep crisis” in that country. Putin prefaced his remarks by saying that he doesn’t usually comment in detail on events unfolding in other countries, but then agreed that was the case, and he linked recent events to the long-standing campaign to oust President Donald Trump from office. It should be recalled that Putin stated back on Jan. 17, 2017—before Trump had even taken the oath of office—that some in Washington “now are ready to organize a ‘Maidan’ in Washington not to let Trump assume office.”

Putin told Zarubin:

“Indeed, what has happened is a manifestation of some kind of deep internal crises. We have been observing this for a long time, from the moment that the current President took office, when he clearly won, democratically, but the losing side thought up all kinds of fairy tales—anything to cast doubt on his legitimacy,” Putin explained. “It seems to me that the problem is that group party interests in this case are placed above the interests of the entire society and the interests of people.”

Putin compared the way the U.S. has handled the COVID-19 crisis with the way Russia is dealing with it. “What I mean is that we, despite certain expense, problems, and losses, are working with a fairly good rhythm. And we are steadily exiting from the coronavirus situation, with minimal losses, God willing that it continue to be so. But in the States this is not happening,” explained Putin. “I doubt that someone here, in the government or in the region could say: ‘We won’t do what the government or the President says. We believe this is inadvisable.… Back off.’ Democracy is one thing”, Putin continued, but “if people choose supreme bodies of power, then these supreme bodies of power vested with people’s trust have the right to organize the work of executive power bodies in order to guarantee the interests of the overwhelming majority of citizens in the country.”