“I must say that the visit was very eventful and very useful,” he said. “Such visits are good in a way that there are a lot of contacts, they are often formal in nature, but very productive, because there is no need for the protocol bow and scrape,” Putin said.
“The questions of either a mutual interest or of a global importance are being discussed directly,’ Putin said. “In this sense, the visit was very useful,” he concluded.
Conversation with Obama was surprisingly very frank
Putin said that the meeting with the United States president Barack Obama was frank and showed that the two sides can work together on common problems.
“Today’s discussion, as I have already said, was very meaningful, formal and surprisingly very frank,” the Russian leader told reporters. “We found a lot in common, but there are differences,” Putin said, adding that these differences are well known.
“But in my opinion it is necessary to have the opportunity to work together on common problems,” Putin concluded.
Putin said it was the American side that proposed meeting with the President of the United States Barack Obama.
“The American partners have proposed this meeting, and as my aide, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, has already said, also proposed two time options. We chose one of them,” Putin said, answering the question about the initiator of the talks. According to him it happened “the other day, very recently.”
At the same time, Putin did not agree with the statement that he did not have any contact with his American counterpart for a long time. “It is not true. We talked – on the phone, on international events, but still we were discussing the key issues of bilateral relations and of the international agenda,” the Russian President said.
According to him, the lack of such meetings “for the camera” does not mean that there was no contact at all. “Contact was not interrupted at all, in this regard there cannot be any concerns and speculations,” Putin concluded.
“Relations between Russia and United States unfortunately at low level”
Relations between Russia and the United States, unfortunately, are at a low level, but not through the fault of Moscow – it is the choice of the United States; Russia is ready to restore the connection, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
“We are always ready to develop relations, to restore it in full,” president Putin told journalists. He added that there are differences, but nevertheless Putin and Obama agreed to work together on it.
Answering the question about the possibility of a more active United States involvement in resolving the situation in Ukraine, the President said that “the United States are already actively involved in this, although it is not being pushed to the front.” He noted that the United States, to a certain extent, “standing behind Kiev authorities and is in constant contact with the Europeans.” At the same time, there is “a good business connection through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on continuing basis” between Russia and the United States, Putin added.