Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country needs to work better with the U.S., in a Saturday interview with Russia’s state-backed television station.
The words were unusually diplomatic from Putin, who has blamed the U.S. for the crisis in Ukraine and accused it of trying to dominate world affairs. While acknowledging the two countries’ major disagreements, Putin said there’s also room to work together, in an interview first reported by Reuters.
“We have disagreements on several issues on the international agenda,” Putin told the state-run Rossiya channel. “But at the same time there is something that unites us, that forces us to work together.”
“I mean general efforts directed at making the world economy more democratic, measured and balanced, so that the world order is more democratic. We have a common agenda,” he added.
Putin’s comments come as relations between Russia and the U.S. have been declining. Putin still insists he isn’t providing support to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, instead blaming it on a Western-backed uprising against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. More than 6,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since last April.
Russian troops and equipment, including heavy artillery, have been identified by Western intelligence sources as operating in the eastern areas that have seen the most serious fighting.
Two days ago in a major television interview, Putin depicted his country as a victim of mistreatment by the U.S. accused it of treating other world powers as “vassal states,” while claiming Russia “doesn’t see anyone as an enemy.”
“The main condition is to have respect for Russia and its interests,” Putin said in that interview, which featured call-in questions from viewers and aired across Russia.
At the same time, both countries say they back a truce brokered in February in eastern Ukraine. That peace deal called for a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and reforms to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy.
The truce has been broken repeatedly, with rebel forces making major advances around the Donetsk Airport in recent weeks.
The government of Ukraine has repeatedly asked the U.S. for military assistance, including especially modern arms and real-time intelligence, but President Obama has balked at providing anything other than on-lethal help.
