Dominic Taylor-
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of trying to contain Russia and called its response to the Capitol siege a manifestation of the West’s double standards.
Speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, Mr Putin said that arms control, global conflicts, the coronavirus pandemic and climate change are among the issues he and US President Joe Biden would discuss during their summit in Geneva on June 16.
He expressed hope the meeting will ease tensions with Washington, after Russia-US relations sunk to post-Cold War lows over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, accusations of Russian interference in elections in the US and other Western nations, and cyberattacks that US officials allege had Russian origins.
Issues
“We don’t have any issues with the US,” the Russian leader continued. “But it has an issue with us. It wants to contain our development and publicly talks about it.
“Economic restrictions and attempts to influence our country’s domestic politics, relying on forces they consider their allies inside Russia, stem from that.”
The Russian leader rejected accusations of interfering in US presidential elections, and he spoke critically of the US response to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which took place as Congress prepared to certify that Mr Biden had defeated Donald Trump in the November presidential election.
“They weren’t just a crowd of robbers and rioters. Those people had come with political demands,” he said.
Mr Putin pointed out that the heavy charges against hundreds of participants in the Capitol siege were filed even as the US and its allies strongly criticised Belarus’ crackdown on anti-government protests.
The Russian president then seemed to highlight what he saw as hypocrisy in the West criticising Russian authorities for a harsh response to anti-Kremlin protests, while protesters in Europe have faced even tougher police reactions.
U.S president, Joe Biden, has promised to be tough onn Russia, following allegations of interference to elections.