Putin in annual phone-in: I told you so
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said yetereday that he had warned European countries years ago about the risk of the US imposing its rules on others, and that they were now paying the price for ignoring him.
Speaking during a live television phone-in with the Russian people that lasted over four hours, Putin likened the tariffs that Washington imposed last week on steel and aluminium imports from Canada, Mexico and the EU to economic sanctions.
“It appears our partners thought that this would never affect them, this counterproductive politics of restrictions and sanctions. But now we are seeing that this is happening.”
The president said he had warned in a speech in Munich in 2007 about a growing US sense of exceptionalism and the risk of it imposing its own rules on other countries.
“That is exactly what is happening now. Nobody wanted to listen, and nobody did anything to stop this from developing. Well, there you go, you’ve been hit. Dinner is served ... please sit down and eat.”
Putin also accused the US of upsetting the strategic nuclear balance, and said nobody should take any hasty steps: “The understanding that a third world war could be the end of civilisation should restrain us.”
He put neighbouring Ukraine on notice that if it tried to make any military moves against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine while Russia hosted the soccer World Cup, Ukraine would suffer:
Putin also said Russian forces would stay in Syria for as long as it was in Russia’s interest.
Putin has since 2001 used the annual phone-in to cast himself as a decisive troubleshooter on the home front and a staunch defender of Russia’s interests on the world stage. – Reuters/African News Agency