When Vladimir Putin faced the world’s media recently for his annual end-of-year press conference, he was characteristically aggressive.
Asked by a BBC journalist whether, as Russia’s president for 20 years, he accepted any responsibility for the current “woeful state of relations” between his country and the west or whether the Russian authorities were “always white and fluffy” (a Russian expression for squeaky clean), he was scathing in his reply:
About us being “white and fluffy”. In comparison with you, yes we are … We heard you promise that Nato is not going to expand to the east – but you didn’t keep your word.
17 Dec 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed deteriorating relations between Russia and the West in his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, describing his country as “harmless and squeaky clean.”
Putin protested that the U.S. has withdrawn from military treaties with Russia and complained of NATO expansion into the former Soviet bloc.
Putin fielded a question from the BBC on Russian responsibility for the diplomatic breakdown, saying “Now, about us being harmless and squeaky-clean. Compared to you, yes, it is a fact, we are harmless and squeaky-clean because we agreed to release from an unequivocal Soviet dictate those countries and nations that wanted to develop independently.”
Foto: EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY
The United States has refused to extend the new START program, which expires on February 5, 2021, and concerns the control of nuclear weapons, TASS reminds. It has already begun. This is obvious. Everything began after the US pullout from the ABM treaty , the Russian President explained. Putin said that Russia creates an umbrella for itself . What were we obliged to do in response? We were obliged to do everything to prevent this from happening. Either creating our own missile defense system or developing weapons capable of penetrating missile defense. And we did that. We made hypersonic missile, including the Avangard, a Russian hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV)”, he added. The anti-ballistic missile treaty was concluded between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1972. In December 2001, the United States declared it was unilaterally quitting the agreement. Under the terms of the treaty its actual termination happened six months later,
Украинцы перечислили главные достижения страны в 2020 году lenta.ru - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lenta.ru Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.