Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is ready to work with the new US administration on issues such as the Syrian conflict and the fight against terrorism. The Russian president said this during his annual state of the nation address on Thursday. It was mainly devoted to domestic issues. But it also touched on Russia's role in international politics and provided an insight into his country’s geopolitical strategy. Julia Lyubova reports from Moscow.
Russia is willing to reconcile its relations with the United States and is ready to cooperate with president-elect Donald Trump. In his annual state of the nation address Vladimir Putin refrained from his usual criticism of Washington and outlined his vision for US/Russian ties.
"We are ready for cooperation with the new U.S. administration. It is important to normalise and start developing bilateral relations on equal and mutually beneficial grounds," Putin said.
Vladimir Putin said that Russia's 'pivot to Asia' is in the country's national interests and is a long-term strategy. He spoke of intentions to build ties with China, Japan and other South Asian nations.
Russia-China strategic partnership has become one of the key factors in ensuring global and regional stability. It serves as a model of international relations.
According to the Russian President, this model of relations is not based on the idea of one country's domination but on an all-encompassing respect for the interests of all states.
"President Putin emphasised that Russia’s pivot to Asia by no means should be understood as a substitute to Russia’s policy to the West. It’s not that Russia’s been cornered and has no option by to go up to Asian powers. But the very geography of Russia, the historical mission of Russia, makes it the biggest Eurasian power which can serve as a bridge between rapidly developing Asia-Pacific region and Europe," Political analyst Sergey Strokan said.
This year's speech was mainly focused on Russia's domestic social and economic issues, saying that the main reason for Russia's financial downturn lies in Russia's internal problems.
In previous years Vladimir Putin has used his state of the nation speech to lash out at the West, the US and other countries that fell foul of the Kremlin. But this year, the message was more conciliatory, with Vladimir Putin saying that Moscow is ready to cooperate with the new US administration and is willing to make friends, not enemies.
