President Putin hopes Russia-US relations will normalize

Russia-US relations received special attention at Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual major press conference on December 14.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and his US counterpart Donald Trump. (Source: VNA)

President Putin hopes that despite many restrictions, US President Donald Trump still wants to improve relations with Russia. Once again, the head of Russia rejected the allegations of so-called Russian interference in the US election, calling it "absurd", saying that it was the work of President Donald Trump's opponents in the US.

Referring to the developments with the RT and Sputnik TV channels in the US, Mr. Putin called the US's behavior toward the Russian press "espionage fanaticism," imagining the dangers posed by these media agencies to the US. In addition, the Russian President expressed confidence that relations between the two countries will normalize.

When asked about the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987 between Russia and the United States, President Putin affirmed that the United States had essentially withdrawn from the Treaty. Meanwhile, the Russian leader affirmed that Moscow would only ensure its own security and not be drawn into an arms race. According to President Putin, Russia maintains military spending at a balanced level between security potential and economic development. Currently, Russia's spending is over 46 billion USD, compared to 700 billion USD of the United States. In 2018, Russia will spend 2,800 billion rubles on weapons, equivalent to 2.8% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Regarding the North Korean issue, the Russian President said that the recent statement by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Washington is ready to negotiate directly with Pyongyang is a good signal. He said that both sides need to stop escalating tensions because it is very dangerous.

Regarding the Ukraine conflict, President Putin said that the conflict has not been resolved due to Ukraine's unconstructive stance of not wanting to implement the Minsk agreement and start the political process./.

According to Vietnam+