Kremlin accuses U.S. of meddling in affairs, but says ready to talk

[webfact]

Kremlin accuses U.S. of meddling in affairs, but says ready to talk

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a video conference call with Chief Executive of Gazprom company Alexei Miller at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia January 19, 2021. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS/Files

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin would respond in kind if the new U.S. administration showed willingness to talk, a Kremlin spokesman said on Sunday, while also accusing Washington of meddling in mass protests in support of detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

 

The Kremlin also downplayed the scale of Saturday's demonstrations, which saw police detain more than 3,000 people and use force to break up rallies across Russia.

 

Prior to the protests, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a "Demonstration Alert", warning U.S. citizens to avoid the protests and naming the venues in Russian cities where protesters planned to gather.

 

"Of course, those publications are inappropriate," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Rossiya 1 TV on Sunday, according to Interfax news agency.

 

"And of course, indirectly, they are absolute interference in out internal affairs. So, this is a direct support of the breach in the Russian Federation's law."

 

The embassy, in emailed comments, said such warnings were a "common and routine practice" of many countries' diplomatic missions.

 

"U.S. embassies and consulates around the world regularly issue safety and security messages to our citizens," it said.

The United States on Saturday called on Russian authorities to release protesters and journalists detained at the demonstrations, and condemned what it called "harsh tactics" used by the police against them.

 

In central Moscow, where Reuters reporters estimated up to 40,000 people had gathered in one of the biggest unauthorised rallies for years, police were seen roughly detaining people and bundling them into nearby vans.

 

The authorities said just around 4,000 people had shown up, while the foreign ministry questioned Reuters' crowd estimate.

 

"No, only a few people went out, many people voted for Putin," Peskov said, according to the TASS news agency. He added that the Russians have supported constitutional reforms proposed by the president. Changes to the constitution will allow Putin to stay in power until 2036.

 

RELATIONS LOWEST IN YEARS

Navalny had called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend as he returned to Russia from Germany for the first time since being poisoned with a nerve agent he says was slipped to him by state security agents in August.

 

Even before the friction over Navalny, relations between Moscow and Washington have been at their lowest since the end of the Cold War, with the two sides also at odds over Russia's role in Ukraine and allegations of its meddling in U.S. elections, which it denies, among other issues.

 

But Peskov had, nonetheless, struck a more conciliatory tone earlier on Sunday, when he said Russia was ready to set up a dialogue with the new administration of President Joe Biden.

 

"Of course, we count on success in setting up a dialogue," he was quoted as saying on TV by Interfax news agency.

 

"This will be the dialogue where, of course, differences will have to be stated to a greater extent, points of differences.

 

But at the same time, a dialogue is a possibility to find some rational kernels, the little parts where our relations are getting closer," he said.

 

"And if the current U.S. administration is ready for such an approach, I have no doubts that our president will respond in kind."

 

Putin was one of the last global leaders to congratulate Biden on his victory in the U.S. presidential election after the Nov. 3 vote.

 

One of the burning issues to be resolved by the two nuclear powers is the arms control treaty, known as New START, which is due to expire on Feb. 5.

 

The White House said last week that Biden would seek a five-year extension to the deal, while the Kremlin requested concrete proposals from Washington.

 

Washington was joined by the European Union and Britain in condemning the security forces' handling of Saturday's protests, while the foreign minister's of Italy and France on Sunday both expressed support for sanctions against Moscow.

 

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Alex Richardson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-25

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Tug]

Cry me a river Putin not to advise Americans in country of demonstrations would be ill responsible at the least .it wasent a itenary of the demonstrations he sounds to me like he’s scratching for something bad to say meh.......

[2530Ubon]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Kremlin accuses U.S. of meddling in affairs

 

Ah, and the tennis match between the US and Russia begins. You did it, no, you did it,  no, you did it, no, YOU did it. Children playing games in the playground. Pathetic. 

[Jeffr2]

Time for the rest of the world to fight back against Russian hacking. 

[Kwasaki]

Vladimir mate you must have it wrong the USA don't meddle in other countries. ????

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Kwasaki

[Jeffr2]

27 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Vladimir mate you must have it wrong the USA don't meddle in other countries. ????

 

Agreed! But I'd say a warning from the embassy there about the ongoing protests is hardly meddling.  LOL

[Lacessit]

Pot, kettle, black. Putin has been meddling in US affairs ever since he came to power.

He wants a dialogue? If I shook hands with Putin, I'd be counting my fingers afterwards.

[Phoenix Rising]

Must be tough for Vlad. Just a week ago he could have just picked up the phone and called the WH to get what he wanted.

[Salerno]

10 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

Time for the rest of the world to fight back against Russian hacking. 

 

And time for the rest of the world to fight back against other hackers, US, Brit, Aussie, French, German, Canadian, Chinese, Iranian, Israeli, Romanian, Lichtenstein ... OK, maybe not Lichtenstein but you get the point.

[Justgrazing]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

, a dialogue is a possibility to find some rational kernels, the little parts where our relations are getting closer," he said.

 

Rational kernels .! 

Vlad was a KGB Colonel if that helps .. 

[Jeffr2]

4 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

And time for the rest of the world to fight back against other hackers, US, Brit, Aussie, French, German, Canadian, Chinese, Iranian, Israeli, Romanian, Lichtenstein ... OK, maybe not Lichtenstein but you get the point.

Did these countries hack Russia's elections? Please show me a link for that.

[Salerno]

5 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Did these countries hack Russia's elections? Please show me a link for that.

 

You now exactly what my point is.

[Jeffr2]

1 minute ago, Salerno said:

 

You now exactly what my point is.

Yes. Trying to put it into perspective. What about this?  I'd like to see where these countries did this to Russia.

 

https://siliconangle.com/2021/01/03/solarwinds-hack-claimed-bigger-previously-believed/

[Salerno]

12 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Yes. Trying to put it into perspective. What about this?  I'd like to see where these countries did this to Russia.

 

https://siliconangle.com/2021/01/03/solarwinds-hack-claimed-bigger-previously-believed/

 

And trying to put it into perspective, who was responsible for Stuxnet?

 

All nations are hacking other nations (friends and foes), all we can hope for is "our" hackers are better than "their" hackers. If we can get positive proof, great, out them and think about proportional retaliation. But lets not get on our high horse with faux outrage.

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Salerno
Typo

[Jeffr2]

7 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

And trying to put it into perspective, who was responsible for Stuxnet?

 

All nations are hacking other nations (friends and foes), all we can hope for is "our" hackers are better than "their" hackers. If we can get positive proof, great, out them and think about proportional retaliation. But lets not get on our high horse with faux outrage.

 

Yeah, shame on Israel for trying to stop nuclear proliferation and protect their country.  NOTHING like what the Russians did when hacking our election systems or the latest one.  And of course, there were many more.

[mr mr]

14 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Yeah, shame on Israel for trying to stop nuclear proliferation and protect their country.

 

iran has been 6 months away from a nuclear bomb for like 15 years now. 

[Jeffr2]

54 minutes ago, mr mr said:

 

iran has been 6 months away from a nuclear bomb for like 15 years now. 

And there are some very good reasons they haven't made it yet.  Israel is one.