MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes U.S. President Barack Obama is a “decent and brave man” who would save him from drowning, even as the two leaders failed to form a “very close” personal relationship.
The two countries share interests on nuclear nonproliferation, terrorism and the world economy, with Russia having no plans to re-create an Iron Curtain, “a Soviet invention,” Putin said Thursday during his annual televised call-in show in Moscow.
The top diplomats from the U.S., the European Union, Ukraine and Russia were meeting Thursday in Geneva as America and its allies accuse Russia of stoking unrest in Ukraine and are threatening to ratchet up sanctions against Moscow. Tougher U.S. sanctions against Russia would be counterproductive as the world isn’t unipolar, Putin said.
“Everything in the world is very interdependent,” Putin said. “So when one tries to punish someone, like a naughty child, have them kneel on peas so it wouldhurt - in the end they will saw off the branch they’re sitting on. And at some point, they will of course understand this.”
Ties between the U.S. and Russia have soured since Putin reclaimed the presidency two years ago. Efforts to improve relations under Obama’s “reset” policy were spearheaded by Putin’s predecessor and now prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.
Obama said in August that the two leaders “don’t have a bad personal” relationship, describing his conversations with Putin as “candid,” “blunt” and often “constructive.”
“I know the press likes to focus on body language and he’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom,” Obama told journalists Aug. 9. “But the truth is, is that when we’re in conversations together, oftentimes it’s very productive.”
Putin said Thursday that he doesn’t view relations with the U.S. as a “sporting competition,” adding that the countries are “partners” and there’s no need to “keep a score.”
Front Section, Pages 4 on 04/18/2014