ST.PETERSBURG, June 17. /TASS/. The world needs such a powerful country as the United States but Moscow does not want Washington to meddle in domestic affairs and prevent the European Union to build relations with Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"The world needs such a powerful country as the United States. And we also need it. But we don’t need them to constantly interfere in our affairs and tell us how to live and prevent Europe to build relations with us," Putin said.
The US tells its European partners to tolerate sanctions against Russia although they affect Europe’s economy. "Why tolerate? I don’t understand," Putin said, adding that compared with the EU, the US economy is not suffering from the anti-Russian sanctions.
The Russian president admitted that the US is the only superpower today. "We understand this, we want and are ready to work with the United States," Putin said.
Balance of interests with West must be sought to prevent Cold War
Putin believes that the western policy of unilateral actions by the West breeds chaos and that a dialog and search for mutually acceptable solutions is needed instead for preventing a rerun of the Cold War.
"If the policy of unilateral actions goes on, if steps in the international scene, very sensitive for the international community, are not coordinated, such (negative) consequences will be inevitable," he said at the full-scale meeting of the forum. "If we turn an attentive ear to each other, if we look for a balance of interest, this will not happen."
"If there is such cooperation, nobody will ever talk about any Cold War," he remarked. Putin said he would not like to think that "we are moving towards some Cold War."
"I am certain that nobody wishes that," Putin said. In his opinion, however dramatic the logic of international relations might seem, it was not a logic of global confrontation.
Putin recalled the history of problems that existed in relations between Russia and the West. He said that after the collapse of the Soviet Union many had hoped for a climate of "universal prosperity and trust." However, Russia had to confront international terrorism and separatism, while other countries started providing assistance to the separatists.
After that, he went on to say, Russia encountered the problem of NATO’s expansion. He pointed to the alliance’s intention to incorporate Montenegro.
"Who is threatening Montenegro?" Putin asked while commenting on that idea.
He also touched upon the problem of NATO’s missile defense, which continued to develop even though the Iranian threat had vanished. Lastly, Putin recalled the western support for "color revolutions" in different countries.