Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to statements made to him by Joe Biden on Wednesday by wishing his American counterpart health.
Biden said in an interview with ABC that the Russian leadership will have to "pay the price" in connection with Moscow's alleged attempts to interfere in the US election, and also answered in the affirmative when asked if he considered Putin a "killer."
"As for the statements of my American colleague. What would I answer him? I would say to him: "Bless you! I wish him health," the Russian leader said, noting that he said so "without irony, without jokes."
The president commented on Biden's statements with a children's proverb about name-calling. According to the Russian leader, when evaluating and criticizing others, people always look in the mirror and see themselves in the reflection.
"The history of every nation, every state has a lot of hard, dramatic and bloody events," the Russian president said. - "But when we evaluate other people or when we evaluate even other states, other nations, we always look as if in the mirror, we always see ourselves there, because we always transfer to another person what we ourselves breathe, what we are in essence."
"I remember, when I was a kid, when we were arguing with each other in the yard, we used to say: 'What you call others is what you call yourself,'" remarked the president. According to him, "it's no accident, it's not just a child's proverb and a joke, there is a very deep meaning, a psychological one. "We always see our own qualities in the other person and think that he is just like us, and proceeding from this we evaluate his actions and assess them in general," Putin said.
Following Biden's remarks, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov was invited to Moscow for consultations on bilateral relations. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier on Thursday told reporters that the US president showed with his remarks that he clearly has no plans to improve relations with Russia. The Kremlin spokesman assured that in the future, Moscow will proceed on that basis. Peskov also called Biden's words "very bad."
American Establishment
Putin said that Moscow will rely on honest and decent Americans in its relations with Washington.
At a meeting with members of the public in Crimea and Sevastopol, speaking about Russian-US relations, the Russian head of state drew attention to the difference in the views of the American people and the establishment. According to his assessment, the United States has "a lot of honest, decent, soulful people" who want to live in peace and friendship with Russia. "We know about it and we value it, and we will rely on them in the future," the Russian leader assured.
"As for the American establishment, the governing, the ruling class, its consciousness was formed in known and rather difficult conditions," Putin pointed out.
"After all, the development by Europeans of the American continent was associated with the extermination of the local population, with genocide, as they say today, direct genocide of Indian tribes. Then followed a very hard, big, hard period of slavery, very cruel," the president recalled.
"Guided by such considerations, the ruling class of the United States solves both domestic and foreign policy problems," the Russian head of state is sure. "After all, the United States is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons, and against a non-nuclear state, against Japan, at the end of World War II against Hiroshima and Nagasaki," the Russian president said. He is convinced that it made "absolutely no military sense, it was direct extermination of the civilian population.
Terms favorable for Russia
Moscow will cooperate with Washington only on terms favorable to itself, Putin said, warning that the US leadership will have to reckon with this.
"I know that the United States, the leadership of the United States as a whole is determined to have certain relations with us, but on those issues that are of interest to the United States itself, and on their terms," the Russian head of state said at a meeting with public representatives of Crimea and Sevastopol.
"We, although they think that we are like them, other people, we have a different genetic and cultural and moral code, but we know how to defend our own interests," Putin stressed. "We will work with them, but in areas in which we are interested, and on terms that we consider beneficial for us," he added. - And they will have to reckon with it. They will have to reckon with that, despite all the attempts to stop our development, despite the sanctions, despite the insults. They're going to have to reckon with it."
"We, bearing in mind our national interests, will develop relations with all countries of the world, including the United States," the Russian president said.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS