Russian President Putin: 'Dialogue is better than confrontation'
According to RT on October 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow has always supported continued dialogue with the United States. Therefore, the issue of holding a new summit between the leaders of the two countries is being temporarily postponed, pending a more appropriate time.
President Putin reiterated that, during a phone call with his American counterpart on October 16, the idea of a summit and its location were both proposed by President Donald Trump.
"I agree that such meetings should be well-prepared: for both me and the US president, it would be a mistake to approach it easily and leave the meeting without the expected results. It must be said that the US president agreed with this point of view," President Putin stated.
According to the Russian leader, he and Mr. Trump agreed that some officials would work to prepare for the summit, but in the initial stages, all progress should be made by the foreign ministers of the two countries: Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio.
"That's what we decided. Now I find that I'm familiar with statements like: The US President has decided to cancel or postpone the meeting. What can I say? In my opinion, dialogue is always better than some confrontations, better than some disputes, or even better than war. That's why we've always supported it, continued dialogue, and we still support it now," President Putin emphasized.
Commenting on the new US sanctions against Russia, the Russian leader said that the restrictions would have a certain negative impact, but "they will not have a significant impact on Russia's economic well-being." President Putin stated that such restrictions today have two aspects: purely political and economic.
President Putin added that these unfriendly actions are damaging to Russia-US relations, which have only just begun to recover.
"If the amount of our oil and oil products on the world market drops sharply, prices will rise. What will that lead to? This will lead to a sharp increase in the cost of oil and oil products, including at gas stations, and the US will be no exception," President Putin emphasized.