Putin: American People Trust President Trump But His Hands Are Tied to Live up to His Promises
Terry Moran, ABC News: First, in the United States the investigation by Congress the Department of Justice, and the media have uncovered a very large number of contacts between Russian citizens associated with your government and high officials of the Trump campaign, and some of those officials are now being prosecuted for lying about those contacts. All this is not normal and many Americans are saying that whether there's so much smoke they must be fired. How would you explain to Americans the sheer number of contacts between Trump campaign and your government? And second, if I may. It's almost been a year since Donald Trump has been elected President. You praised Donald Trump during the campaign. What is your assessment of Donald Trump as President after one year? Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Well, first of all, let me start from the second part of your question. It's not for me to evaluate President Trump's work. It's his voters who should do this, American people. Objectively, we see certain serious achievements, even for the short period of his service. Just have a look at the markets, how they've grown. This shows the trust investors have in the American economy. It means that they trust what President Trump is doing in this field. You know, with all due respect to Trump's American political opponents, these are real factors. I think, there are some things he would like to do, but which he hasn't been able to do yet, like the healthcare system reform, or some other aspects. For instance, he claimed the improvement of relations with Russia. it's evident that, even if he wanted to do this, he wouldn't be able due to the restrictions you're aware of. Actually, I don't know, you'd better ask him whether he still has this intention or it's been worn out. I hope, he does. I believe, that it is in the interest of both American and Russian people to normalize and improve our relations, to fight the threats we all know very well. It's terrorism, environmental issues, WMD non-proliferation, overcoming the crises that take place in various regions, like the Middle East, North Korea etc. There are many issues which we could deal with much more effectively together in the interest of our nations than we do now. Well, that's about it, I suppose.
– How would you explain the interaction between your government... How would you explain it to Americans?
Vladimir Putin: You know, it's all been made up. It's all been made up by people who consider themselves the opposition to Trump, so as to make his work look less legitimate. Frankly speaking, all this looks odd to me. They do this as if they didn't understand that these actions may cause damage to the inner political state of the country. This may restrict elected President's range of options. It means, they do not have respect for the people who elected him. Moreover, what, do you think, electoral process look like in other countries? Would you prohibit any kind of contact? Our ambassador was blamed for having meetings with someone, but this is what ambassadors do in all the countries of the world. Diplomats or even government officials have such meetings with all the candidates and their campaign teams, to discuss certain issues, the perspectives of development, to understand what those people would do when they come to power. What's a proper reaction to this? What's so mean about it? Who is saying this is mean? Why does all this look so much like spy hysteria? You might have followed the investigation on social networks. Concerning Russian companies, the amount of their advertisement could be measured by hundredths of a percent, while American companies occupy 100-200% of the market. These figures are incomparable. But even this amount seems abundant [to American justice]. This is ridiculous. Russian media have been involved in an alike situation, I mean, RT and Sputnik. Their share in American media environment is insignificant if compared to American global media's share of the world and Russian market. But you regard it as a threat. What about the free flow of information? Isn't it one of the basic principles of American democracy? I think all of us should learn from what we manage to do and what we don't. We should make conclusions and go on, but we shouldn't attack each other like... I don't know... like beasts. We'd better think about it and make proper conclusions.