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Russia ready for dialogue with US — Putin

The Russian president comments on the relations between Moscow and Washington

ST. PETERSBURG, May 25. /TASS/. Russia is ready to have a detailed dialogue with the United States since it is long overdue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the SPIEF-2018 plenary meeting on Friday.

"Certainly, we cannot be content with the level and nature of Russian-US relations. We are ready for dialogue. Mr. Trump has suggested holding a separate meeting, but things go wrong for us," Putin said. "Many problems are emerging, but we are ready to hold a detailed dialogue. I think it is long overdue."

The head of state pointed out that Russia has disagreements with the US, but the two countries’ stances are similar in some issues. For instance, both countries are concerned about a possible new arms race.

"Certainly, those steps, which we are talking about now, related to North Korea and Iran do not make us closer, but they are also a reason to discuss these issues," Putin said.

Putin reiterated that Russia had not meddled in the latest presidential election in the US. "Instigator. I had nothing in common with the election campaign of Mr. Trump," Putin replied to the host of a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, who supposed that.

Putin has called on the US to establish uniform rules of behavior on the world stage.

"We, along with our US partners, must agree on some uniform rules of behavior; it is crucial, because this is what’s at the base of our discussion today - trust. Trust exists or it doesn’t, and then nothing good can come out of anything. And then the element of force is the only thing that remains, and this might lead to a tragedy," Putin said.

He noted that the practice of unilateral sanctions "is piling up". In particular, Putin reminded that US slapped a several billion dollars’ fine on the French bank "Paribas" and "Deutsche bank" for failing to implement unilateral US sanctions against Iran, "the same happened to a Japanese bank." "And then what? Everyone paid up," the Russian president noted. "This needs to end, this is unacceptable. This is what I’m talking about." "If this continues, what good can come out of it? It jeopardizes the existing world order," the Russian leader stressed.