Interfax: Putin hopes Russia will be able to promote dialogue with Europe and U.S. on Ukraine issue

(Interfax – July 28, 2015)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hopeful that his country will be able to further promote dialogue with Europe and the United States concerning the fight against radical Islamism and other problems, including the Ukrainian issue.

“I see today that the situation has changed. Europe and the U.S. have realized the real threat coming from the extreme manifestations of radicalism and have actually joined this struggle. We, the Russian people, usually say in such situations – better late than never,” Putin said in an interview with the Swiss media. The text of the interview has been posted on the Kremlin website.

“We very much hope that we will hold dialogue and will find solutions that will suit everyone both in this area and in other matters – the settlement of the situation in Ukraine and economic issues,” he said.

“We need to be patient and work with our American colleagues in looking for solutions as, I can say, has already happened with regard to the Iranian nuclear problem,” the Russian president said.

Putin believes that Russia and the U.S. “need to revitalize their work and give a fresh impetus to this work at the level of the UN Security Council.”

“Beyond any doubt, the U.S. is a great power (…) But this does not mean that today’s authorities in the U.S. have a right to travel around the world, capture whomever they want, drag these people to their territory and act based on the ‘those who are not with us are against us’ principle,” Putin said, adding that he “does not seek to demonize the U.S. policy.”