TRANSCRIPT: Remarks by the President at the Business Roundtable [excerpt re: Russia]

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 03, 2014
Remarks by the President at the Business Roundtable [excerpt re Russia]
Business Roundtable Headquarters

The President: So I think we have to be cautious and clear-eyed about our relationship with China, but there’s no reason why we should not be able to manage that relationship in a way that is productive for us and productive for the world.

I’m less optimistic about Russia. I have a very direct, blunt and businesslike relationship with Putin. We had a very productive relationship when Medvedev was President, even though Putin was still the power behind the thrown [sic]. In part because I think the situation in Ukraine caught him by surprise, he has been improvising himself into a nationalist, backward-looking approach to Russian policy that is scaring the heck out of his neighbors and is badly damaging his economy. And sanctions are having a big bite on their economy.

We continue to offer them a pathway to a diplomatic resolution of the problem. But the challenge is this is working for him politically inside of Russia, even though it is isolating Russia completely internationally. And I think people should take note of how unified we have been able to keep the Europeans on sanctions and penalizing Russia for its behavior, despite the fact that it’s tough on the Russian economy — or on the European economy. But people have recognized there’s a core principle at stake that helped to establish peace in Europe and prosperity in Europe that can’t be ignored.

But if you ask me, am I optimistic that Putin suddenly changes his mind-set, I don’t think that will happen until the politics inside of Russia catch up to what’s happening in the economy inside of Russia — which is part of the reason why we’re going to continue to maintain that pressure.

[featured image is file photo]