ANTALYA, November 16. Russia would welcome the removal of restrictions Western partners, if they are ready to remove them. The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has declared to journalists.
“If our partners believe that the time has come to change our relationship, we will welcome. We’ve never shied away from collaboration and we never closed”, – said Putin.
The Russian leader stressed that our country has never refused to cooperate with Western partners. “These unilateral measures restricting our cooperation in various fields, not entered by us and our partners”, – said Putin. He noted that at the Ministerial level, at the level of discussion of issues “there is a clear interest to resume working in many areas,” including politics and security.
“A year ago, relations were more strained”
Russia was not in isolation a year ago, but relations with Western partners then were more intense than today, also said Vladimir Putin. “There were no problems then or now, although the relations were more strained than they are today, but life goes on, things change, there are new challenges, new threats, new challenges that are difficult to solve alone, who wouldn’t be, we need to unite,” – said Putin.
The Russian leader also denied suggestions that during last year’s G20 summit in Australia, Russia was in international isolation. “Last year Australian colleagues have created very good conditions for work, everything was very correct, without any problems, just wanted to give the public that Russia is somehow isolated, but was nothing like this. The fact that I left early, it’s no secret, I’ve talked about this – I did it for technical reasons, not to stand in the queue for departure,” explained Putin.
