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Putin accuses US of wish to dominate the world

One of the American ways of influencing other countries, Putin said, is “to question everything and to say that you do not match some standards”

TOMSK, January 25 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of the intention to dominate the world and added that one of the methods of achieving that was the practice of questioning the legitimacy of internal political procedures in other countries.

The head of government raised the theme of foreign policy toward the end of his meeting with students in Tomsk, which lasted for about 3.5 hours. One of the students asked what in his opinion were the likely reasons for the negative reaction in the West to the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan.

“That is related with the foreign policy doctrine of the United States. They wish to control everything. I have already said during the live phone-in question-and-answer session on television. I have the impression that the United States needs no allies. It needs vassals,” Putin said.

“It is unprepared to cooperate on equitable terms with Europe or with us. Cooperation on equitable terms implies joint evaluation of the degree of threats, joint efforts to work out a system of response. It refuses categorically,” Putin said to have recalled as an example the missile defense affair, which the United States plans to deploy in Europe.

One of the American ways of influencing other countries, Putin said, is “to question everything and to say that you do not match some standards.”

“And they formulate those standards themselves,” he said.

“’This does not mean that we had everything right, or that in Kazakhstan everything is right. It does not mean that we should not develop civil society, should not ensure the freedom of the media. It does not mean that we should not give thought to how our institutions of democracy operate. There are many problems, too. All that needs development. But that does not mean that everything is bad, that nothing is developing. And that does not mean that they have everything right.”

In particular, he recalled the way the US election system works. Two presidents, including George W. Bush were elected by a majority of the electoral college without having the support of a majority of voters.