ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not expect any major changes in U.S. policy towards Russia if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, but did not rule out a shift in thinking.
Speaking to media editors at an economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Moscow didn’t care who won, while accusing the Biden administration of making mistake after mistake and of “burning down” the U.S. political system and global leadership.
“Basically, we don’t care (who wins)”, he said when asked by Reuters whether he believed the outcome of the U.S. election would make a difference for Moscow.
Calling incumbent Joe Biden a predictable old school politician, he said Moscow would work with whoever wins and not meddle in domestic U.S. politics.
“We have never had any special ties with Mr Trump, but the fact remains that as president he started imposing massive sanctions on Russia, he withdrew from the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles,” said Putin.
“To say – I am speaking quite sincerely – that we believe that after the elections something will change towards Russia in American policy, I would not say so. We don’t think so. We think that nothing really serious will happen.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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