Vladimir Putin sees the United States as an ally in the common fight with the terrorism. The Russian leader gave an annual speech, in which said that Russia is ready to cooperate with Trump office.
Mt Putin has softened his rhetoric about the United States in the annual speech, the Russian president stressed that his country desires to mend ties and work together in Syria once Donald Trump takes office. Moreover, the Russian diplomat said this week that official Moscow has been in contact with Trump’s transition team about Syria.
“We are ready to cooperate with the new American administration. It’s important to normalise and start to develop our bilateral relations on an equal and mutually beneficial basis.”
US-Russian ties have been frigid following sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis and support for Syrian militants fighting Russia’s ally Mr Assad. But Trump has praised Putin’s leadership saying it would be nice to work with him to defeat the ISIS, and in their first conversation after the election, Putin appeared to emphasise the potential for cooperation.
Putin returned to the theme in his speech on Thursday:
‘Of course I am counting on joining forces with the United States in the fight with the real, not made-up, threat of international terrorism.’
He added that thanks to the bombing campaign in Syria, where Russia and Assad’s forces are engaged in a bloody push to take Aleppo, ‘terrorists have been dealt a palpable blow.’
