Tag: Vladimir Putin

US wants to get past rift with Russia amid Syria impasse

By Andrew Beatty, with Dave Clark in Moscow Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States — The United States wants to improve ties with Russia from their current “all-time low” over Syria, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, as Moscow dug in to defend its ally in Damascus. Standing side-by-side with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, Trump said: “It would be wonderful… if NATO and our country could get along […]

Trump pledges ‘full support’ to Putin over Russia metro attack

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — United States President Donald Trump spoke Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and pledged Washington’s “full support” for Moscow’s response to the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro, the White House said. Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. Russian authorities said they were probing an “act of terror.” “President Trump offered the full support of the (US) government in responding […]

Ukraine gas magnate arrested in Austria

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria arrested one of Ukraine’s richest men on Tuesday, a fresh twist for the one-time ally of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Gas magnate Dmytro Firtash was taken into custody over alleged links to organized crime in Spain, moments after a Vienna court ruled he could be extradited to the United States on corruption charges. Firtash, 51, made money through connections with Russian gas giant Gazprom, and was at one time linked […]

Putin refuses to expel US diplomats, Trump applauds

by Olivia HAMPTON with Max Delany in Moscow WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised President Vladimir Putin for refraining from tit-for-tat expulsions of Americans in response to US punitive measures over alleged Russian interference in the November election. Putin’s decision came despite the foreign ministry asking him to send home 35 US diplomats after President Barack Obama had expelled the same number of Russian staff. Trump’s intervention — in a tweet […]

Trump praises ‘very smart’ Putin for holding off on reprisals against US

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for not quickly hitting back at Washington for the punitive measures imposed over alleged interference in the November election. “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!” Trump tweeted. Russia’s embassy in Washington quickly retweeted the comment, which Trump pinned so it would appear at the top of his feed for several […]

Kremlin says Russia will never initiate an arms race – RIA

  MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has never initiated an arms race and never will, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, the RIA news agency reported. President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Friday he was unfazed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to boost the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Trump, asked to clarify his comments about expanding U.S. nuclear weapons capability, said, “Let it be an arms race,” and that the United States would win it, […]

Trump releases Putin letter urging better US-Russia ties

PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday released what he said was a “very nice” letter from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin calling for a thaw in ties between the rival powers. Relations between Washington and Moscow are at their worst since the end of the Cold War, and President Barack Obama has imposed sanctions over Russia’s interventions in Syria and Ukraine. But Trump, who takes office on January 20, called […]

Putin calls Assad to congratulate on Aleppo ‘liberation’

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin called Syria’s Bashar al-Assad Friday to congratulate him on completing the “liberation” of Aleppo, the Kremlin said. “Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and congratulated him with the end of the operation of liberation of Aleppo from fighters,” it said in a statement. “This success was possible thanks to mutual efforts of all who came together in the fight with international terrorism in […]

Putin: Nobody believed Trump would win ‘except us’

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump accurately read the popular mood in the United States to win the election, although “nobody except us” believed in his success. The US president-elect “precisely felt the mood of the society and worked in that precise paradigm, he went to the end, though nobody believed that he would win except us,” Putin said while answering a state media journalist at […]

Putin says ‘nothing unusual’ about Trump’s nuclear call

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said there was “nothing unusual” about US President-elect Donald Trump’s call to boost America’s nuclear capability. “As concerns the new president-elect of the United States Mr Trump, there is nothing new here. During his election campaign he spoke about the necessity of strengthening the nuclear component of the United States, to strengthen the armed forces. There is nothing unusual here,” Putin said at his annual press […]

Putin says Aleppo recapture ‘very important’ for Syria: agencies

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday the recapture of the devastated city of Aleppo by Syrian regime forces was a “very important” step towards stabilizing the war-torn country. “The liberation of Aleppo from radical elements is a very important part of the normalization in Syria, and I hope, for the region overall,” Putin told defense minister Sergei Shoigu in a meeting, Russian news agencies reported. The Syrian army said late Thursday that […]

Putin urges Russian nuclear weapons boost

by Maria ANTONOVA MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for the country to reinforce its military nuclear potential and praised the army’s performance in its Syria campaign. In a speech that recapped military activities in 2016,Putin said the army’s preparedness has “considerably increased” and called for continued improvement that would ensure it can “neutralize any military threat”. “We need to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with […]