MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. The Russian and US militaries should take advantage of their existing ties to prevent situations like the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with journalists from Russian media outlets.
"There are good working ties between our militaries, we have things we can work on together, experts are actually working," Putin noted.
According to him, contacts take place on a regular basis. "They are working together as far as Syria is concerned. There indeed are some issues and they are creating more and more problems but there also are mechanisms to address these problems," Putin said. "I hope that they will be used to prevent situations like the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no reason for such developments," he added.
"Is there a tough standoff between two systems now like it used to be in the Cold War era? There isn’t. There are some mutual grievances and differences in approaches to resolving issues but that is no excuse for starting a confrontation like the Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred in the 1960s," Putin pointed out.
He emphasized that Russia did not want that. "If someone wants it, let them have it. I said today what would happen," the Russian leader stressed.