Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western elites on Thursday against sabotaging a potential rapprochement between Russia and the United States, stating that Moscow would engage its diplomats and intelligence services to prevent such attempts.
Speaking before the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor of the Soviet KGB—an agency once led by Putin—the Russian president expressed satisfaction with the progress being made in rebuilding relations between Moscow and Washington, though he noted that it was still too early to draw conclusions.
“I emphasize that the initial contacts with the new American administration signal some hope. There is a mutual willingness to work on improving relations between the two governments and gradually resolve the many strategic issues that have emerged in the global security architecture,” Putin said.
He also spoke positively about the fact that Russia’s “current partners” had demonstrated what he described as pragmatism and realism, abandoning the “ideological clichés” of their predecessors, which, according to him, had caused crises in international relations.
However, Putin noted that it was clear not all countries were in favor of improving relations between the two largest nuclear powers, as reported by REL.
“We understand that not everyone is happy with the restoration of Russo-American contacts. Some Western elites are still determined to maintain instability in the world, and these forces will try to disrupt the dialogue that has begun,” Putin said.
Although he did not name any specific countries, his comments appeared to be directed at the European Union and Britain, which have expressed concerns about the possibility of Russia and the US ending the war in Ukraine without Kyiv and the EU being part of the negotiations, fearing that Washington might be too lenient with Moscow.
