Russia-US ties at lowest point in years: Putin

Moscow, June 12 (IANS) Just days ahead of the much-awaited summit with his American counterpart Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia-US relations were at their lowest point in years.
“We have a bilateral relationship that has deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years,” Putin told NBC News in an interview on Friday which will be aired on June 14.
But he said that Biden is a career politician and there is hope that there will not be any impulse-based movements, TASS News Agency reported.
He “is radically different from (former US President Donald) Trump because President Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics”
“That’s a different kind of person, and it is my great hope that yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements, on behalf of the sitting US president,” Putin said.
Meanwhile, he also denied a Washington Post story saying that Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite that would enable Tehran to track military targets in the region, Xinhua news agency reported citing the NBC News interview.
“It’s just fake news,” Putin told NBC News.
“At the very least, I don’t know anything about this kind of thing. Those who are speaking about it probably know more about it. It’s just nonsense, garbage.”
Biden, who is on the first foreign trip of his presidency to Europe, will meet Putin on June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial in recent years.
The two sides have obvious differences on issues related to Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and US election interference.
In his Wednesday remarks to US troops and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall base in the uk, Biden said that Washington wants a stable and predictable relationship with Russia.
“But I’ve been clear: The US will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities,” he warned.

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