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Putin says US harbors ‘bipartisan consensus’ to contain Russia

The Russian president said that the intentions voiced earlier by US President Donald Trump were definitely not implemented in full

NOVO-OGARYOVO, October 7. /TASS/. The United States is exploiting ‘a bipartisan consensus’ to contain Russia in all areas of development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday in an interview with Rossiya-24 television channel.

The Russian president said that in recent years, Moscow and Washington have managed to reach a number of positive agreements in fostering bilateral relations.

"However, the intentions voiced earlier by [US President Donald] Trump were definitely not implemented in full," Putin said, adding that the failure to fulfill the earlier pronounced aims "is largely due to a certain bipartisan consensus on the need to contain Russia and curb the development of our country."

"On top of it all, this position is an all-encompassing one to contain [Russia] in all areas of its development," he continued. "As far as we understand, it definitely serves as a restraint device for the current US administration."

Asked about the upcoming US presidential election regarding who would be the eventual winner either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, Putin said: "What can I say about preferences?"

"We all know well that incumbent President Trump repeatedly spoke in favor of cultivating Russian-American ties," he stated. "And we greatly appreciate this."

"We have definitely turned our attention, when he [Trump] started speaking about it during his first iteration in the race for the White House," Putin continued.

However, the Russian president said it was necessary to "take an unbiased look at the developments, which occurred recently."

"Yes, indeed, we have managed to achieve a lot in the sphere of bilateral relations and I must highlight this in particular," the Russian leader continued. "I am not going to list all of the positive steps taken in the development of Russian-American relations now, but they certainly do exist."

Putin, however, also shifted the spotlight to Washington’s sanctions imposed against Russia in the recent years.

"Nevertheless, the majority of various restrictions and limitations [against Russia] were introduced under the Trump Administration," Putin noted. "A total of 46 decisions were made either in regard to the introduction of new sanctions or on the expansion of the previously introduced sanctions."

Back in his 2016 election campaign, Trump constantly stressed that he was hoping to "get along" with Moscow in order to start jointly settling the current key issues in bilateral relations. His political opponents have since accused him of having loyalties to Russia, to the detriment of the US national interests.

The United States is set to hold a general election on November 3. American voters will be going to the polls to elect the country’s president and vice-president, all 435 members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate, and governors of 13 states and territories.

Incumbent US President Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate, is being challenged by his Democrat rival, Joe Biden. Trump’s running mate for Vice President is Mike Pence, while Biden’s VP pick is Senator Kamala Harris of California.