New Delhi: Taking the world by surprise, Russian president Vladimir Putin has showered accolades on his US counterpart Donald Trump, noting that if he had not been “cheated” in the American elections in 2020 and returned as president, there wouldn’t have been any animosity between the two nations. Putin, in the same breath, also blamed Joe Biden and the supposed stealing of the 2020 presidential polls in the US for Washington, and later its European allies, for “isolating” Russia due to the Ukraine war.
At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, Putin was quite candid in his criticism of Biden, noting that there had been no “isolation” of Moscow initially and that the European nations took a cue from the then US administration, which initiated the animosity with Russia over the 2022 Ukraine war.
“I believe that if President Trump had been there, if he had not been cheated in the US elections, and I believe there was a clear rigging in the previous American elections. He was not allowed to gain power then. But if he had been in power, maybe this would not have happened. Maybe he would have paid more attention to finding a peaceful solution,” the Russian president said.
Referring to his discussions with Biden during the last days of his presidential term, Putin said his administration did not hear the Russian proposals made in December 2021 (on Ukraine and Nato). Well, what can we do? Maybe, if Trump had been in power, it would have turned out differently,” he added.
Biden isolated Russia over Ukraine
“There was no isolation initially. The previous US administration was the initiator of this isolation. This is well known,” Putin told the forum. “Later, the Europeans followed this line, and to this day, have succeeded in isolating Moscow more than the US,” he said. The lack of animosity in the initial days of the Ukraine war was attributed by the Russian president to continued economic and energy partnership between the US and Russia, and with European nations.
“These attacks, of course, bring nothing good. Moreover, they cause certain damage. But when investors make investment decisions, they assess the entire set of risks,” Putin said, referring to the targeting of Moscow by the Western allies through arms support to Ukraine in the war against Russia. “For us, it means only one thing … that we must strengthen our security, strengthen the missile defence system, strengthen the air defence, and we will do this. I want to assure you we see no threats today and the same for the near future,” he said.
Russia-US trade continues
Putin noted that the Biden administration had targeted one of Russia’s liquefied natural gas projects. But soon after the project began operations, the first shipment went to the American market. “I was surprised. Why? It’s profitable. We still supply uranium to the American market. The first country that supplies uranium by volume is an American company. The second one is international, with European and American capital. The third by volume is Russian to this day,” he said.
He praised the Americans as “pragmatic” people, asking them to be taken as an example. “Where it’s profitable, we (Russia) continue to cooperate with them (the US). Nothing has stopped,” he added. Pointing to the American and European capitalists at the forum, the Russian president said, “We can only welcome this. We have never isolated ourselves from anyone. And if the situation has changed in such a way that representatives of these states are already attending this forum. We are only glad about this,” he said.
Putin noted that Russia’s actions on the economic front brought results. “The basic foundations of the Russian economy are preserved. This gives us reason to believe that Russia remains an attractive country for investments, including domestic and foreign. We see this interest, and we welcome our partners,” he added.
Russia-China nuclear, economic ties
Putin also talked about the Russian diplomatic ties with China, noting that Moscow had built four nuclear power stations for Beijing and four more were under construction, with a follow-up project of two more. “Four units of our design (nuclear power plants) are currently in operation. Four units are under construction in the People’s Republic of China, with two more in the future,” he said.
“Sino-Russian trade and economic cooperation is growing well, thanks to the high level of interaction between our economies. We have a very close working relationship. Our cooperation is mutually beneficial and has been developing in a very stable and sustainable manner in recent years,” he added.